The GP3 Series teams got another chance for some meaningless bimbling around a Spanish test track, with the recent two-day post-season test at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia. As ever with GP3, one team rather dominated.
It is almost getting to the point where GP3's organisers might consider banning ART from racing in their series. The French squad swept both the drivers and teams championships in the first two years of the new championship, and their preparations to make it three in a row in 2012 seem to be going predictably to plan.The penultimate post-season test of 2011 saw German F3 driver Daniel Abt top both days of the test for the ART squad, seemingly assuring himself of a drive with the champions for the 2012 season in the process.
Elsewhere, the rest of the GP3 field continued to press on with their evaluation of drivers for next year's championship, and while neither day managed to fill the 30-car limit to capacity, the teams still got plenty of chances to see another generation of young drivers in action.
Day 1
Abt's dominance of the opening day of the test was total. After hitting the front early on in the morning session, he continued to lower the benchmark throughout the day to end up over 0.6 seconds clear of the rest of the 21-car field by the end of the day.
His nearest challenger was the impressive Patric Niederhauser, the 2011 Italian Formula Abarth champion, who ended up second for Jenzer Motorsport. Another ART tester, Brazilian driver Victor Guerin, was third overall.
The best of those drivers with existing GP3 experience was American driver Conor Daly, who ended up a fraction off second place for Carlin, while Finnish driver Matias Laine was fifth for the Marussia Manor squad.
The final ART tester for the day, Marlon Stockinger, ended up in sixth place, with British Formula Renault race winner Tio Ellinas (Manor) and British driver Will Stevens (MW Arden) completed the top eight.
| Leading Times. | |||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best Time |
| 1 | Daniel Abt (Ger) | Lotus ART | 1:27.505 |
| 2 | Patric Niederhauser (Swi) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:28.141 |
| 3 | Victor Guerin (Bra) | Lotus ART | 1:28.143 |
| 4 | Conor Daly (Usa) | Carlin | 1:28.186 |
| 5 | Matias Laine (Fin) | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:28.237 |
| 6 | Marlon Stockinger (Phi) | Lotus ART | 1:28.321 |
| 7 | Tio Elinas (Cyp) | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:28.443 |
| 8 | Will Stevens (Gbr) | MW Arden | 1:28.556 |
| 9 | Maxim Zimin (Rus) | MW Arden | 1:28.596 |
| 10 | Tom Blomqvist (Gbr) | Status Grand Prix | 1:28.609 |
| 11 | Will Buller (Gbr) | Carlin | 1:28.771 |
| 12 | Tamas Pal Kiss (Hun) | ATECH CRS GP | 1:28.870 |
Day 2
Abt again topped the second day of the Valencia test, though he saw his advantage trimmed to virtually nothing by the chasing pack, and by the end of the day he was just 0.075 seconds ahead of Laine, who finished as the best of the rest.
Having switched from ART to Status GP, Stockinger finished third fastest, just over a quarter of a second off the pace, while Niederhauser continued his strong debut test with fourth place.
2011 GP3 driver Tamas Pal Kiss was fifth for the Atech team, with this year's championship runner-up James Calado running for the ART team, with whom he will race in GP2 next season, and ending the day in sixth.
Daly ended the day seventh, having gone fastest of all in the slower afternoon session, while MW Arden's Maxim Zimin completed the top eight.
The GP3 teams will enjoy one final test before packing up for the winter, running at Jerez on December 1st-2nd.
| Leading Times. | |||
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best Time |
| 1 | Daniel Abt (Ger) | Lotus ART | 1:26.147 |
| 2 | Matian Laine (Fin) | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:26.222 |
| 3 | Marlon Stockinger (Phi) | Status Grand Prix | 1:26.407 |
| 4 | Patric Niederhauser (Swi) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:26.448 |
| 5 | Tamas Pal Kiss (Hun) | ATECH CRS GP | 1:26.453 |
| 6 | James Calado (Gbr) | Lotus ART | 1:26.564 |
| 7 | Conor Daly (Usa) | Carlin | 1:26.677 |
| 8 | Maxim Zimin (Rus) | MW Arden | 1:26.745 |
| 9 | Michael Heche (Swi) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:26.815 |
| 10 | Aaro Vainio (Fin) | Lotus ART | 1:26.820 |
| 11 | Robert Visoiu (Rom) | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:26.845 |
| 12 | Tio Elinas (Cyp) | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:26.867 |
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