Russell fastest on Day 3 of Yas Marina Test

George Russell (ART GP) posted the fastest time on Day 3 of testing. The Briton’s best laptime of 1:55.364 which was set in the morning was six tenths quicker than Trident’s Santino Ferrucci and Jenzer Motorsport’s Alessio Lorandi. It was also the fastest lap of the three day test session. The ART driver also headed the timesheet in the afternoon ahead of Lorandi and Arden International’s Leonardo Pulcini.

There were two familiar faces added to the day three line-up: 2016 GP3 drivers Alex Palou and Matt Parry both testing for Campos Racing.

ART GP tester Arjun Maini headed the times early on for the third and final day of post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit. Fellow ART GP driver Anthoine Hubert was first to lap in the 1m57’s, before Russell set a time of 1:56.965.

There was an early red flag when Steijn Schothorst stopped at Turn 19. Trident’s Raoul Hyman went P1 before a lengthy red flag period for Hubert who made contact with the barrier at Turn 7. There was damage to the TecPro barriers so the session was delayed while they were repaired. The session was over for Hubert as the monocoque was damaged from the incident.

Arden International’s Pulcini then set the pace with a 1:56.170 before Russell became the first driver to dip into the 1m55’s. Arden’s Max Defourny and Lorandi moved up to second and third respectively in the final 30 minutes while Ferrucci shot to P2 near the close of the session.

Russell remained on top at the checkered flag; behind him were Ferrucci, Lorandi, Max Defourny, Leonardo Pulcini, Jack Aitken, Maini, Schothorst, Kevin Joerg and Marcos Siebert.

The afternoon session got underway after GP2 Series had their turn on track. Pulcini topped the timesheet with a 1:56.363 ahead of Ferrucci and Palou. With less than one hour remaining, Russell shot to P1 with a 1:56.307. There was a brief flag due to debris on track in two different locations. Once the debris had been cleared, the action resumed, but only shortly as Joerg stopped on track at Turn 20.

Maini moved up to second in the final stages, until Pulcini displaced the Indian driver to P3. But nobody could better the time set by Russell as he stayed in P1 until the checkered flag. However, there was one final switch in positions when Lorandi bettered his fellow compatriot Pulcini for second position. Behind the top three were Maini, Ferrucci, Giuliano Alesi, Aitken, Robert Shwartzman, Palou and Bruno Baptista.

GP3 Series will be back in 2017 for its eighth season…stay tuned!

Day Three – morning session

Pos	Driver	Team	Laptime	Laps
1.	George Russell	ART Grand Prix	1:55.364	26
2.	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	1:55.907	25
3.	Alessio Lorandi	Jenzer Motorsport	1:56.023	28
4.	Max Defourny	Arden International	1:56.028	32
5.	Leonardo Pulcini	Arden International	1:56.034	32
6.	Jack Aitken	DAMS	1:56.127	28
7.	Arjun Maini	ART Grand Prix	1:56.203	25
8.	Steijn Schothorst	Jenzer Motorsport	1:56.319	25
9.	Kevin Joerg	Arden International	1:56.364	28
10.	Marcos Siebert	Trident	1:56.513	21
11.	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1:56.642	25
12.	Robert Shwartzman	Koiranen GP	1:56.645	24
13.	Matheus Leist	ART Grand Prix	1:56.768	28
14.	Patricio O’Ward	Koiranen GP	1:56.797	23
15.	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	1:56.862	21
16.	Anthoine Hubert	ART Grand Prix	1:56.913	12
17.	Matthew Parry	Campos Racing	1:56.915	27
18.	Bruno Baptista	DAMS	1:56.984	27
19.	Tatiana Calderon	Jenzer Motorsport	1:56.992	26
20.	Tarun Reddy	Koiranen GP	1:57.007	18
21.	Dorian Boccolacci	DAMS	1:57.043	27
22.	Julian Falchero	Campos Racing	1:57.370	30

*Raoul Hyman disqualified as his #5 car was found underweight.

Afternoon Session

Pos	Driver	Team	Laptime	Laps
1.	George Russell	ART Grand Prix	1:55.759	37
2.	Alessio Lorandi	Jenzer Motorsport	1:56.128	28
3.	Leonardo Pulcini	Arden International	1:56.245	30
4.	Arjun Maini	ART Grand Prix	1:56.336	35
5.	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	1:56.359	28
6.	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1:56.401	13
7.	Jack Aitken	DAMS	1:56.416	33
8.	Robert Shwartzman	Koiranen GP	1:56.434	32
9.	Alex Palou	Campos Racing	1:56.491	34
10.	Bruno Baptista	DAMS	1:56.529	34
11.	Matthew Parry	Campos Racing	1:56.558	21
12.	Max Defourny	Arden International	1:56.564	27
13.	Matheus Leist	ART Grand Prix	1:56.612	33
14.	Raoul Hyman	Trident	1:56.643	26
15.	Steijn Schothorst	Jenzer Motorsport	1:56.705	28
16.	Tarun Reddy	Koiranen GP	1:56.812	28
17.	Patricio O’Ward	Koiranen GP	1:56.916	28
18.	Marcos Siebert	Trident	1:57.008	26
19.	Julian Falchero	Campos Racing	1:57.019	31
20.	Dorian Boccolacci	DAMS	1:57.037	35
21.	Kevin Joerg	Arden International	1:57.054	17
22.	Tatiana Calderon	Jenzer Motorsport	1:57.080	27