Photo: Zak Mauger/GP3 Series Media Service
Matt Parry led the way for Trident in the opening session of GP3 post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, with the Briton joined by three rookie compatriots in the top five.
Joining the team that ran Luca Ghiotto in his title challenge after finishing eighth in his rookie season for Koiranen, Parry hit the top of the times at the end of the session with a lap of 1m55.800s.
He displaced fellow Trident tester Antonio Fuoco – sixth in his maiden campaign for Carlin – and the Italian was then relegated to third by Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 champion Jack Aitken, testing a GP3 car for the second time with Koiranen.
European Formula 3 frontrunner Jake Dennis was the quickest total newcomer to GP3 in fourth for Arden, just beating Koiranen’s FR2.0 graduate Jake Hughes.
Kevin Jorg, returning to a GP3 test after two years away, was sixth for Trident ahead of Steijn Schothorst (Campos).
Ralph Boschung, driving for Status as new team DAMS evaluates drivers, was eighth ahead of Koiranen’s Matevos Isaakyan with the top 10 rounded out by European F3 star Charles Leclerc of ART.
Japanese F3 driver Nirei Fukuzumi (ART) triggered a red flag by hitting the barriers at Turn 1, with two other stoppages were caused by Pedro Cardoso (Campos) and Tatiana Calderon (Status) coming to a halt.
Morning session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Matt Parry | Trident | 1:55.800 | 17 | |
| 2 | Jack Aitken | Koiranen GP | 1:55.958 | 0.158 | 23 |
| 3 | Antonio Fuoco | Trident | 1:55.993 | 0.193 | 17 |
| 4 | Jake Dennis | Arden International | 1:56.121 | 0.321 | 18 |
| 5 | Jake Hughes | Koiranen GP | 1:56.228 | 0.428 | 18 |
| 6 | Kevin Jorg | Trident | 1:56.244 | 0.444 | 19 |
| 7 | Steijn Schothorst | Campos Racing | 1:56.437 | 0.637 | 25 |
| 8 | Ralph Boschung | Status Grand Prix | 1:56.536 | 0.736 | 19 |
| 9 | Matevos Isaakyan | Koiranen GP | 1:56.829 | 1.029 | 12 |
| 10 | Charles Leclerc | ART Grand Prix | 1:57.090 | 1.290 | 25 |
| 11 | Nabil Jeffri | ART Grand Prix | 1:57.275 | 1.475 | 23 |
| 12 | Santino Ferrucci | Status Grand Prix | 1:57.629 | 1.829 | 19 |
| 13 | Pedro Cardoso | Campos Racing | 1:57.793 | 1.993 | 25 |
| 14 | Leonardo Pulcini | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:57.921 | 2.121 | 18 |
| 15 | Will Palmer | Arden International | 1:57.932 | 2.132 | 21 |
| 16 | Tatiana Calderon | Status Grand Prix | 1:58.004 | 2.204 | 20 |
| 17 | Antoni Ptak | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:58.557 | 2.757 | 18 |
| 18 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | Campos Racing | 1:58.792 | 2.992 | 27 |
| 19 | Giuliano Alesi | Arden International | 1:59.175 | 3.375 | 22 |
| 20 | Nico Rindlisbacher | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:59.180 | 3.380 | 18 |
| 21 | Nirei Fukuzumi | ART Grand Prix | 2:16.963 | 21.163 | 4 |