FIRST GP3 TEST DAYS – MÜLLER FASTEST

The ten teams running in the GP3 Series met on 3^rd and 4^th March 2011 for the first test days of the new season. They gathered in the south of France at the Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track, where the weather was cool with alternate short spells of sunshine and showers.

The first day was used to check that all the components of the race cars were working properly after the winter break. Conditions were very changeable and thus very difficult, and the drivers needed a goodly portion of luck to be on track at just the right moment to set a good lap time.

On the second day the track finally dried out in the middle of the morning and stayed that way, which meant the lap times soon began to tumble. The 30 drivers in this year’s classy field were covered by a margin of no more than 1.6 seconds and Nico Müller (CH) emerged as a not unexpected favourite at the end of the day, setting the fastest time of all. Maxim Zimin (RUS) and Vittorio Ghirelli (I) both ran well despite finding it hard to get the best out of their new tyres.

The next official test days will be on 29th/30th/31st March at Silverstone (GB) and on 12^th/13^th/14^th April 2011 at Barcelona (E). The first race of the new season will be as support to the Turkish Formula 1 Grand Prix, on 7^th/8^th May 2011 in Istanbul (TK).