Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP3 Media Service
Dean Stoneman remained fastest on the first day of GP3 post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, beating former Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 rivals Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland in the afternoon.
Rowland had knocked Gasly off top spot inside the final hour, with the pair the only drivers to have dipped below the 1m56s mark. However, in the final ten minutes, Stoneman moved up from third place with a time of 1m55.829s – just under half a second faster than his morning benchmark.
Stoneman scored a second place in race two at the weekend on his return to single-seaters following his fight with cancer.
Eurocup champion Gasly improved with his final lap to take second place, just over a tenth away from Stoneman and narrowly ahead of Rowland.
As in the earlier session, GP2 runner-up Sam Bird took fourth place in his efforts to get Russian Time up to speed with the GP3 car.
Kevin Korjus took fifth for Status Grand Prix ahead of ART recruit Alex Fontana. German F3 champion Marvin Kirchhofer joined his fellow rookies Gasly and Rowland in moving into the top ten during the afternoon, taking seventh for MW Arden.
Gamer-turned-racer Jann Mardenborough continued his strong showing for Carlin in eighth ahead of Trident’s Roman de Beer and Status ace Nick Cassidy.
Session times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Dean Stoneman | Koiranen GP | 1:55.829 | 25 | |
| 2 | Pierre Gasly | ART Grand Prix | 1:55.940 | 0.111 | 29 |
| 3 | Oliver Rowland | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:55.967 | 0.138 | 17 |
| 4 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 1:56.028 | 0.199 | 27 |
| 5 | Kevin Korjus | Status Grand Prix | 1:56.419 | 0.590 | 24 |
| 6 | Alex Fontana | ART Grand Prix | 1:56.432 | 0.603 | 25 |
| 7 | Marvin Kirchhofer | MW Arden | 1:56.468 | 0.639 | 26 |
| 8 | Jann Mardenborough | Carlin | 1:56.469 | 0.640 | 33 |
| 9 | Roman de Beer | Trident Racing | 1:56.549 | 0.720 | 23 |
| 10 | Nick Cassidy | Status Grand Prix | 1:56..603 | 0.774 | 16 |
| 11 | Patric Niederhauser | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:56.614 | 0.785 | 24 |
| 12 | Dino Zamparelli | MW Arden | 1:56.628 | 0.799 | 25 |
| 13 | Adderly Fong | Koiranen GP | 1:56.653 | 0.824 | 25 |
| 14 | Emil Bernstorff | Carlin | 1:56.678 | 0.849 | 33 |
| 15 | Edward Jones | MW Arden | 1:56.845 | 1.016 | 23 |
| 16 | Jimmy Eriksson | Russian Time | 1:56.904 | 1.075 | 28 |
| 17 | Emanuele Zonzini | ART Grand Prix | 1:57.019 | 1.190 | 29 |
| 18 | Melville McKee | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:57.247 | 1.418 | 23 |
| 19 | David Fumanelli | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:57.269 | 1.440 | 20 |
| 20 | Jordan King | Status Grand Prix | 1:57.274 | 1.445 | 26 |
| 21 | Santiago Urrutia | Koiranen GP | 1:57.295 | 1.466 | 22 |
| 22 | Nicholas Latifi | Carlin | 1:57.381 | 1.552 | 30 |
| 23 | Ryan Cullen | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:57.675 | 1.846 | 25 |
| 24 | Ivan Taranov | Trident Racing | 1:57.978 | 2.149 | 30 |
| 25 | Juan Branger | Trident Racing | 1:58.652 | 2.823 | 34 |
| 26 | Kevin Joerg | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:58.798 | 2.969 | 14 |
| 27 | Kuba Dalewski | Russian Time | 1:59.116 | 3.287 | 30 |