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Stoneman beats Gasly and Rowland to stay fastest on first test day

by Peter Allen
Dean Stoneman

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