The GP3 Series season kicked off today at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with the morning free practice and the afternoon qualifying session. Italian Leonardo Pulcini (1m32.258s) secured pole position and will be sitting in the top spot at the season opening race, tomorrow. Besides, the Spanish Campos Racing team driver inaugurated his overall standings account with the 4 bonus points awarded to the pole sitter.
ART Grand Prix drivers ruled the qualifying session from the start, as they had in the free practice but then were forced to surrender to the Italian in the dying minutes of the session. Rookie Nikita Mazepin finished second, only 57 thousands of a second off the pace. Anthoine Hubert came in third, followed by Callum Ilott. The other ART team member, Jake Hughes, was only 11th after having set the benchmark in the free practice.
Last year, Pulcini climbed to the second step of the Barcelona podium in the first race. Other podium visitors here are Dorian Boccolacci (who finished second in 2017), Alessio Lorandi (twice third in 2017), and Hughes (second in 2016). They will line up 6th, 9th and 11th in tomorrow’s starting grid.
Despite their modest performance today, other drivers worth keeping an eye on are the only woman in the entry list, Tatiana Calderón (14th fastest), or Giugliano Alessi (10th) and Pedro Piquet (13th), both with legendary Formula 1 ancestry.
The 9th season of this closely matched series (as shown by having 18 of the 20 drivers less than one second apart in today’s qualifying) will get under way this Saturday, 12 May, with a 22-lap race. Drivers will buckle up for a fascinating battle expected to last around 40 minutes tomorrow, at 10.45am. The second showdown is scheduled for Sunday between 10.25 and 11am, in the shape of a Sprint race covering 17 laps.