Photo: Alastair Staley/GP3 Media Service
Dean Stoneman followed up his outstanding return to single-seater racing in GP3 in Abu Dhabi last weekend as he topped the timesheets on the morning session of the post-season test at Yas Marina.
Remaining with the Koiranen GP team, Stoneman posted a time of 1m56.278s. That put him three tenths of a second ahead of Patric Niederhauser, who is driving for the Jenzer Motorsport outfit he’s driven for for the past two years.
Dino Zamparelli finished third having switched from Marussia Manor to MW Arden, with GP2 runner-up Sam Bird fourth as he helps Russian Time get to grips with the old Bamboo Engineering cars.
Kevin Korjus was fifth driving for Status Grand Prix, just ahead of top series debutant Jann Mardenborough. After his promising pace in Formula Renault 3.5 testing two weeks ago, the GT Academy ace again set an impressive time driving for his usual F3 squad Carlin.
Melville McKee was seventh on his return to action with Marussia Manor, having departed Bamboo ahead of the final round of the season. Alex Fontana, who’s switched from Jenzer to ART for all three days of testing, was eighth.?Roman de Beer was ninth as he tests with Trident for the second winter in succession, ahead of another Carlin rookie Emil Bernstorff.
Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 title rivals Pierre Gasly and Oliver Rowland were 11th and 13th for ART and Marussia Manor respectively, sandwiching German F3 champion Marvin Kirchhofer (MW Arden).
The GP3 cars return to the track later in the day following GP2’s opening session.
Session times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Laptime | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Dean Stoneman | Koiranen GP | 1:56.278 | 18 | |
| 2 | Patric Niederhauser | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:56.584 | 0.306 | 19 |
| 3 | Dino Zamparelli | MW Arden | 1:56.649 | 0.371 | 18 |
| 4 | Sam Bird | Russian Time | 1:56.711 | 0.433 | 16 |
| 5 | Kevin Korjus | Status Grand Prix | 1:56.837 | 0.559 | 16 |
| 6 | Jann Mardenborough | Carlin | 1:56.858 | 0.580 | 22 |
| 7 | Melville McKee | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:56.921 | 0.643 | 25 |
| 8 | Alex Fontana | ART Grand Prix | 1:56.927 | 0.649 | 20 |
| 9 | Roman de Beer | Trident Racing | 1:56.986 | 0.708 | 27 |
| 10 | Emil Bernstorff | Carlin | 1:57.067 | 0.789 | 24 |
| 11 | Pierre Gasly | ART Grand Prix | 1:57.198 | 0.920 | 19 |
| 12 | Marvin Kirchhofer | MW Arden | 1:57.211 | 0.933 | 20 |
| 13 | Oliver Rowland | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:57.430 | 1.152 | 12 |
| 14 | Ed Jones | MW Arden | 1:57.511 | 1.233 | 16 |
| 15 | Jimmy Eriksson | Russian Time | 1:57.635 | 1.357 | 8 |
| 16 | Adderly Fong | Koiranen GP | 1:57.665 | 1.387 | 20 |
| 17 | Emanuele Zonzini | ART Grand Prix | 1:57.670 | 1.392 | 19 |
| 18 | David Fumanelli | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:57.881 | 1.603 | 15 |
| 19 | Jordan King | Status Grand Prix | 1:57.883 | 1.605 | 5 |
| 20 | Nick Cassidy | Status Grand Prix | 1:58.023 | 1.745 | 19 |
| 21 | Nicholas Latifi | Carlin | 1:58.349 | 2.071 | 21 |
| 22 | Santiago Urrutia | Koiranen GP | 1:58.701 | 2.423 | 21 |
| 23 | Ryan Cullen | Marussia Manor Racing | 1:58.771 | 2.493 | 26 |
| 24 | Kevin Jorg | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:59.080 | 2.802 | 26 |
| 25 | Ivan Taranov | Trident Racing | 1:59.225 | 2.947 | 27 |
| 26 | Juan Branger | Trident Racing | 2.02.334 | 6.056 | 20 |
| 27 | Kuba Dalewski | Russian Time | 2:03.730 | 7.452 | 6 |