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Status GP Takes Positives From Latest Two-Day GP3 Series Test At Barcelona
Status Grand Prix completed the two-day GP3 Series test at Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya with some encouraging performances in both dry and wet track conditions.
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In the dry, China’s Adderly Fong ended one of the sessions in the top 10, while Swede Jimmy Eriksson emulated that in the wet. Meanwhile, Briton Josh Webster made strong progress despite being hampered by a couple of problems and it being his first taste of the Barcelona track.
Fong’s top-10 performance came after the track dried out on the first morning, going ninth fastest. In the afternoon Fong completed Status GP’s first race-distance run of the new, second-generation, 400bhp GP3 racer, while Eriksson’s bid for a strong time was scuppered by red flags and traffic on his new sets of Pirelli P Zero tyres. He ended up 11th fastest. Webster was disadvantaged too; having experienced throttle and brake problems, he was unfortunate to suffer a broken alternator belt.
Everybody’s times were improving on the second morning, but then the threatening rain broke and the rest of the test took place on a soaking wet track. Eriksson was on a very good run, which ended with him eighth fastest, but after completing a race distance he had to pit for more fuel just as the track was getting faster, and a red flag meant he never got the chance to go for a quicker time.
Fong’s run finished with a differential problem, while Webster suffered an aquaplaning spin. Although the car was not damaged, it had accumulated too much gravel to continue with the session.
The test ended with the drivers being fully prepared for wet or dry conditions at the GP3 season’s opening race weekend, which is back at Barcelona, supporting the Formula 1 Spanish Grand Prix, on 10th to 12th May. In the meantime, the last of the three pre-season tests takes place at Silverstone on 3rd and 4th April.
Driver quotes:
Jimmy Eriksson:
“We dealt with many of the issues from the opening test of the new car at Estoril, and we are finding speed now. I am happy that we are capable of being in the top 10, maybe even in the top five. The timesheets didn’t show that, but I was stuck in traffic and red flags, so I couldn’t make a proper lap time – I was P11 despite all that! In the rain I was improving every lap but we extended my race run because we could see conditions improving. Eventually I got low on fuel, which is a shame because I could easily have been top five, perhaps top three.”
Adderly Fong:
“On the first morning it was quite good, but when the times improved on the second day I didn’t maximise my driving on the new tyres. We were working on doing race runs but then the rain came. I did two qualifying simulations on rain tyres just to get a feel for it, and I ran in those conditions on both dry set-up and wet. It was unfortunate the diff locked in the end, but we learned a lot about how the rain tyres cope with the package of the new car.”
Josh Webster:
“It’s been a bit frustrating so far – I’m not the luckiest of drivers at the moment! – but the second day was more positive. The throttle and brake issues we had seemed to get better, so that’s a big step forward. I was just getting used to new tyres in the dry when it rained. The car felt really good in those conditions and I felt quick, but my spin unfortunately stopped us getting out when the track was at its quickest. Still, it’s Silverstone next and you always expect those conditions there at some point!”
PaddockTalk Perspective
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