Nirei Fukuzumi leads the first day of th GP3 pre-season test in Barcelona

This afternoon we saw ART driver Nirei Fukuzumi set the fastest time on the first day of the second GP3 pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of his team mate Anthoine Hubert and Arjun Maini.

After much of the morning running was lost while the track tried out, three red flags – caused by Leonardo Pulcini, Dorian Boccolacci and Russell stopping on-track – disrupted the afternoon session.

But it was Nirei Fukuzumi who topped the timesheets on the first day of the GP3 pre-season test in Barcelona with a lap time of 1.33.685. Fukuzumi finished ahead of his team mate Anthoine Hubert in second place who was 0.435 seconds behind and was ahead of Arjun Maini who finished in third place 0.775 seconds behind Fukuzumi.

Mercedes Formula 1 junior driver George Russell (the 2014 BRDC Formula 4 champion and McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner) finished the day in fourth place, ahead of Alessio Lorandi in fifth place, Giuliano Alesi in sixth place, Kevin Jorg in seventh place, Jack Aitken in eighth place, Italian F4 champion Marcos Siebert in ninth place and Santino Ferrucci rounding off the top ten finishers of the session.

Day One Timesheet

1) Nirei Fukuzumi, ART Grand Prix, 1:33.685, 47 laps
2) Anthoine Hubert, ART Grand Prix, 1:34.120, 40 laps
3) Arjun Maini, Jenzer Motorsport, 1:34.460, 44 laps
4) George Russell, ART Grand Prix, 1:34.556, 37 laps
5) Alessio Lorandi, Jenzer Motorsport, 1:34.647, 41 laps
6) Giuliano Alesi, Trident, 1:34.670, 38 laps
7) Kevin Joerg, Trident, 1:34.791, 41 laps
8) Jack Aitken, ART Grand Prix, 1:34.793, 39 laps
9) Marcus Siebert, Campos Racing, 1:34.825, 43 laps
10) Santino Ferrucci , DAMS, 1.35.012, 43 laps
11) Bruno Baptista, DAMS, 1.35.062, 43 laps
12) Tatiana Calderon, DAMS, 1.35.417, 40 laps
13) Niko Kari, Arden International, 1.35.448, 38 laps
14) Ryan Tveter, Trident, 1.35.475, 37 laps
15) Raoul Hyman, Campos Racing, 1.35.524, 44 laps
16) Steijn Schothorst, Arden International, 1.35.884, 45 laps
17) Julien Falchero, Campos Racing, 1.38.167, 35 laps
18) Dorian Boccolacci, Trident, Not Classified
19) Leonardo Pulcini, Arden International, Not Classified

Picture supplied by the GP3 Series

Driving for Pleasure will be covering the second and final day of the GP3 pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with our test report tomorrow.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa