INDIA in F1

Tag: GP3

  • Ilott claims maiden pole in Spielberg qualifying: GP3 Series

    Ilott claims maiden pole in Spielberg qualifying: GP3 Series

    Callum Ilott of ART Grand Prix takes GP3 Series pole on Saturday at Spielberg. A GP3 series image

    Spielberg, 29 June 2018: Callum Ilott clinched his first GP3 Series pole position during the Qualifying session at Spielberg, Austria, pipping ART Grand Prix teammate Jake Hughes to top spot with a 1:19.209 lap in the final stages of the session here on Saturday. Hughes secured his highest qualifying result of the season with second, with Trident’s Alessio Lorandi taking third place.

    Unlike the morning’s practice, the session began in dry, overcast conditions; at the start, Ilott led ART stablemates Anthoine Hubert, Nikita Mazepin and Hughes out onto the Red Bull Ring. The running began inauspiciously for the Ferrari Academy driver – Ilott went off at turn 1 on his first flying lap – to let Hubert clock the quickest time on the opening cycle of runs.
    Ilott soon hit back, becoming the first to reach the 1m19s in the session, with Pedro Piquet (Trident) and Joey Mawson (Arden International) filtering in just behind the British driver. Mazepin then popped up onto the top of the timing boards before Ilott whittled the pace down further, finding a 1:19.630 ahead of the field electing to switch tyres in the middle of the session.
    Jenzer Motorsport’s Juan Manuel Correa got the running back underway, with Ilott once more taking the initiative and reopening the phase of hot laps in the final ten minutes. Ryan Tveter – who topped the morning’s Free Practice session – quickly threatened and elevated himself into second, but Ilott extended his advantage over the Trident driver before Mazepin returned to head the times.
    Hughes then assumed control of the session in its final stages before Ilott was able to wrest back provisional pole, going half a tenth faster than his teammate to set a 1:19.209. The session was then quickly red-flagged, as Hubert – who had sustained a huge wide moment at turn 10 on his hot lap – came to a halt on the track at the exit of turn 6, requiring a tow away from the marshals. With just under two minutes left on the clock, the session was not restarted – cementing Ilott’s first GP3 pole.
    Completing an all-ART front row, Hughes was 0.03s faster than Trident’s Alessio Lorandi, who starts from the second row alongside countryman Leonardo Pulcini. Mazepin begins Saturday’s race from fifth ahead of Piquet, with previous polesitter Dorian Boccolacci qualifying seventh to beat Tveter. French duo Gabriel Aubry and Giuliano Alesi complete the top ten.
    As current series leader Hubert starts from 19th on the grid, all eyes will be on him to fight back through the field in Saturday’s Race 1, while the battle for victory should be hotly contested – with plenty of close racing expected at the Red Bull Ring.
    2018 GP3 Series Round 3 – Spielberg, Austria – Provisional Qualifying Classification
    Driver
    Team
    Time
    Laps
    1
    Callum Ilott
    ART Grand Prix
    1:19.209
    15
    2
    Jake Hughes
    ART Grand Prix
    1:19.246
    15
    3
    Alessio Lorandi
    Trident
    1:19.276
    16
    4
    Leonardo Pulcini
    Campos Racing
    1:19.344
    15
    5
    Nikita Mazepin
    ART Grand Prix
    1:19.351
    15
    6
    Pedro Piquet
    Trident
    1:19.400
    14
    7
    Dorian Boccolacci
    MP Motorsport
    1:19.453
    16
    8
    Ryan Tveter
    Trident
    1:19.487
    16
    9
    Gabriel Aubry
    Arden International
    1:19.502
    15
    10
    Giuliano Alesi
    Trident
    1:19.549
    15
    11
    Juan Manuel Correa
    Jenzer Motorsport
    1:19.592
    16
    12
    Simo Laaksonen
    Campos Racing
    1:19.606
    15
    13
    Joey Mawson
    Arden International
    1:19.718
    15
    14
    David Beckmann
    Jenzer Motorsport
    1:19.782
    15
    15
    Diego Menchaca
    Campos Racing
    1:19.807
    15
    16
    Niko Kari
    MP Motorsport
    1:19.902
    16
    17
    Tatiana Calderon
    Jenzer Motorsport
    1:19.974
    15
    18
    Julien Falchero
    Arden International
    1:19.995
    15
    19
    Anthoine Hubert
    ART Grand Prix
    1:20.003
    14
    20
    Devlin DeFrancesco
    MP Motorsport
    1:20.191
    13

  • Maiden win for Fukuzumi; Maini finishes 7th: GP3

    Japanese driver victorious in Barcelona
    Nirei Fukuzumi has dominated his rivals for his first GP3 Series win this afternoon at the Circuit de Catalunya-Barcelona, leading a close fight with ART teammate Jack Aitken before the Briton suffered a mechanical gremlin which eased the pressure on the Japanese driver, who then flew to a 7 second victory over Leonardo Pulcini and Alessio Lorandi.
    The race took place under scorching conditions, with front row starters Aitken and Fukuzumi storming off when the lights went out towards turn one: the Honda development driver had the outside line as they ran three abreast with Dorian Boccolacci and nabbed the lead into turn two, with the Frenchman running wide at turn two and allowing Pulcini a run through to P3.
    Aitken and Fukuzumi were swapping fastest laps as they looked for any advantage over the other, pulling away from the rest of the field as they did, while further back Lorandi was on a charge: moving up a spot to P6 off the line, the Italian mugged Arjun Maini for 5th on lap 9 and ran through Boccolacci 4 laps later as the battle for the lead intensified.
    But the fight came to an end on lap 16 as Aitken stuttered on track before being slowly swallowed up by his pursuers as he limped back to the pits and retirement: with the pressure now off Fukuzumi soared to the flag, while the battle shifted to the two Italian rivals behind him. Lorandi was all over the rear wing of his countryman for the closing laps, but to no avail: Pulcini was impervious to attack and punched the air as he crossed the line in P2.
    Behind them George Russell had stayed out of trouble and preserved his tyres to push up to 4th place at the flag, just holding off teammate Anthoine Hubert as he did so, while Boccolacci will have picked up a lot of lessons on his way to P6, denying Maini at the end of the race. Further back Campos pair Raoul Hyman and Marcos Siebert had a huge fight over the closing laps for team bragging rights, with the South African just holding on for 8th and reverse pole when Santino Ferrucci got in the mix, nicking P9 from Siebert at the final corner.
    Race 1 Provisional Classification
    Driver
    Team
    Gap
     
    1.
    Nirei Fukuzumi
    ART Grand Prix
    2.
    Leonardo Pulcini
    Arden International
    7.433
    3.
    Alessio Lorandi
    Jenzer Motorsport
    7.889
    4.
    George Russell
    ART Grand Prix
    11.807
    5.
    Anthoine Hubert
    ART Grand Prix
    12.159
    6.
    Dorian Boccolacci
    Trident
    14.364
    7.
    Arjun Maini
    Jenzer Motorsport
    14.906
    8.
    Raoul Hyman
    Campos Racing
    30.986
    9.
    Santino Ferrucci
    DAMS
    31.314
    10.
    Marcos Siebert
    Campos Racing
    31.357
    11.
    Julien Falchero
    Campos Racing
    31.912
    12.
    Ryan Tveter
    Trident
    32.228
    13.
    Kevin Jörg
    Trident
    32.916
    14.
    Tatiana Calderon
    DAMS
    33.288
    15.
    Niko Kari
    Arden International
    35.996
    16.
    Bruno Baptista
    DAMS
    37.783
    17.
    Giuliano Alesi
    Trident
    38.240
    18.
    Steijn Schothorst
    Arden International
    39.412
    Not classified
    Jack Aitken
    ART Grand Prix