Tio Ellinas Fastest On Day One Of GP3 Silverstone Test

Marussia Manor Racing’s Tio Ellinas ended the opening day of the GP3 Silverstone test fastest overall, with a time set during the afternoon period around the Northamptonshire circuit. The drivers were met with freezing weather conditions throughout the day, which saw the MW Arden of Carlos Sainz jr. post the fastest time in the morning period.

The day began in sunny yet bitterly cold weather conditions, with the majority of the 27-car field electing to immediately return to the warm confines of the pits after their initial installation laps. Eventually the track action increased throughout the morning period, with Alex Fontana and Nick Cassidy becoming the first two drivers to set times within the 01:47s. Gradually the times began to tumble, as Tio Ellinas and then David Fumanelli set the pace. However, the MW Arden of Carlos Sainz jr. finally went fastest as the session drew to a close with a 01:46.795.

Carlos Sainz jr. was fastest in the morning period, yet had his time deleted in the afternoon for being underweight.

After a two-hour lunch break, track action was resumed around the legendary Silverstone circuit. Facu Regalia caused an early red flag delay in his ART Grand Prix machine after stopping on the circuit, whereas his team-mate of Jack Harvey went fastest. Melville McKee rose to the top for Bamboo Engineering as the afternoon session entered its midway point, before Luis Sa Silva ran extensively wide at Becketts and glanced the retaining tyre barrier to cause another red flag delay.

As the afternoon session entered its closing stages, the wind began to pick up making driving conditions rather difficult. After causing an earlier red flag delay, Facu Regalia rose to the top as Adderly Fong ran wide at Chapel and caused yet another brief delay as his car was retrieved. Despite Regalia’s authority at the top, Tio Ellinas stormed ahead of the ART Grand Prix driver with only a minute remaining with a scintillating 01:46.211, a time 3.9 seconds faster than the previous GP3 record at Silverstone set last season by Mitch Evans in the old GP3/10 machine.

The second and final day of the GP3 Silverstone test will commence tomorrow at the Northamptonshire venue, with proceedings scheduled to get underway at 9am local time, with a one hour lunch break between 12pm and 1pm. This will be the final day of testing before the start of the new season next month at Barcelona.

Morning Session:
Pos  Driver                  Team        Time       Laps
 1.  Carlos Sainz Jnr        MW Arden    1m46.795s  10
 2.  Tio Ellinas             Manor       1m47.389s  10
 3.  David Fumanelli         Trident     1m47.490s  11
 4.  Alex Fontana            Jenzer      1m47.700s  24
 5.  Nick Cassidy            Manor       1m47.850s  13
 6.  Daniil Kvyat            MW Arden    1m47.904s  13
 7.  Nick Yelloly            Carlin      1m47.942s  14
 8.  Giovanni Venturini      Trident     1m48.047s  14
 9.  Aaro Vainio             Koiranen    1m48.238s   7
10.  Kevin Korjus            Koiranen    1m48.242s  15
11.  Patrick Kujala          Koiranen    1m48.370s  13
12.  Patric Niederhauser     Jenzer      1m48.493s  15
13.  Dino Zamparelli         Manor       1m48.545s  12
14.  Robert Visoiu           MW Arden    1m48.796s  12
15.  Melville McKee          Bamboo      1m48.889s  13
16.  Josh Webster            Status      1m49.025s  15
17.  Adderly Fong            Status      1m49.484s  15
18.  Eric Lichtenstein       Carlin      1m49.546s  13
19.  Felipe Guimaraes        Bamboo      1m49.633s  12
20.  Luis Sa Silva           Carlin      1m49.644s  16
21.  Emanuele Zonzini        Trident     1m49.725s  15
22.  Jimmy Eriksson          Status      1m50.566s  12
23.  Carmen Jorda            Bamboo      1m52.684s  13
24.  Samin Gomez             Jenzer      1m52.887s  10
25.  Conor Daly              ART         -           1
26.  Jack Harvey             ART         -           1
27.  Facu Regalia            ART         -           1

 

Afternoon Session*

Pos  Driver                  Team        Time       Laps
 1.  Tio Ellinas             Manor       1m46.211s  29
 2.  Facu Regalia            ART         1m46.247s  31
 3.  Nick Yelloly            Carlin      1m46.540s  37
 4.  Jack Harvey             ART         1m46.664s  23
 5.  Melville McKee          Bamboo      1m46.719s  20
 6.  David Fumanelli         Trident     1m46.774s  24
 7.  Robert Visoiu           MW Arden    1m47.027s  32
 8.  Alex Fontana            Jenzer      1m47.050s  28
 9.  Kevin Korjus            Koiranen    1m47.143s  18
10.  Conor Daly              ART         1m47.177s  33
11.  Daniil Kvyat            MW Arden    1m47.345s  32
12.  Dino Zamparelli         Manor       1m47.391s  30
13.  Jimmy Eriksson          Status      1m47.402s  29
14.  Josh Webster            Status      1m47.474s  30
15.  Patric Niederhauser     Jenzer      1m47.698s  11
16.  Felipe Guimaraes        Bamboo      1m47.731s  25
17.  Emanuele Zonzini        Trident     1m47.924s  25
18.  Adderly Fong            Status      1m47.983s  18
19.  Eric Lichtenstein       Carlin      1m48.305s  34
20.  Patrick Kujala          Koiranen    1m48.322s  24
21.  Nick Cassidy            Manor       1m48.755s  23
22.  Giovanni Venturini      Trident     1m48.977s   9
23.  Aaro Vainio             Koiranen    1m49.146s  11
24.  Luis Sa Silva           Carlin      1m50.517s  15
25.  Samin Gomez             Jenzer      1m50.890s  15
26.  Carmen Jorda            Bamboo      1m51.457s  21

* Carlos Sainz's times deleted after car found to be underweight

Picture(s) Copyright © Malcolm Griffiths/GP3 Series Media Service