Red Bull pair Sainz and Kvyat head first day of GP3 testing

Photo: Alastair Staley/GP3 Series Media Service

Red Bull’s GP3 drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniil Kvyat fired an early warning shot to the opposition by topping the timesheets in the first day of testing for the second generation car at Estoril today.

Sainz posted the day?s best time of 1m26.815s in the final 15 minutes, going exactly eight tenths of a second faster than his MW Arden teammate Kvyat.

?I am really happy today, this was my first time driving Circuito Estoril and I am P1,? said Sainz. ?So many people had said how difficult the GP3/13 car would be to drive and they were right!

?I was so surprised with the amount of power and speed, in particular through the corners. It?s very challenging for us and it?s a very good feeling driving a car with 400hp, we had a great base to start with so we will see what we can achieve.?

Tio Ellinas was close behind Kvyat in third place with Marussia Manor Racing as he looks to continue in the category for a second year after winning the 2012 season finale at Monza. The Cypriot had earlier topped the morning session with a 1m29.396s, enough to break the previous GP3 lap record at Estoril despite being the best part of three seconds slower than Sainz?s final time.

Only 13 drivers covered more than 10 laps in the morning as teams focussed on installation laps and overcoming some early teething troubles, but only two of the 27 cars clocked less than 19 laps during the afternoon.

David Fumanelli showed that being forced to switch from Arden to Trident Racing for his sophomore campaign would cause him no problem as he continued his strong testing pace from the end of 2012 with the day?s fourth best time.

Kevin Korjus was a promising fifth quickest on the Koiranen GP team?s first day of GP3 running ahead of the third Arden machine of Robert Visoiu. Giovanni Venturini, sporting new sponsorship from Indonesia on his Trident car, was seventh with Jenzer?s Patric Niederhauser in eighth. Facu Regalia finished up fastest of the three ART Grand Prix cars immediately ahead of teammates Conor Daly and Jack Harvey.

Series technical director Didier Perrin was pleased with the first day of running for the upgraded car.

?Today has been a big success,? he said. ?The car looks beautiful, it sounds fantastic and as anticipated it?s much quicker than the GP3/10. We have achieved over 650 laps on day one of testing. With more power, the car will be much more demanding for drivers? therefore I am very confident that when we arrive in Barcelona for the first round, we will produce an even better show and a high level of exciting competition.?

Morning session

Afternoon session