Huertas on the pace in barcelona

25 October 2011

Carlin’s Carlos Huertas was on the pace in GP3 testing today, on the first day of official testing at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. The British F3 front runner was on impressive form on his GP3 debut, finishing both the morning and afternoon sessions third quickest.

Dense fog greeted the GP3 teams this morning, and caused an unexpected hold-up to track action which was delayed until 09.30. When the first cars finally took to the track, it was on wet tyres, with the track still damp from rain overnight.

Brazilian driver Costa was one of the first drivers on track in order to make the most of his two days in the Carlin car. The Ferrari Academy Driver makes the big step up from Formula Abarth, but did well in the mid part of the session and was second quickest in the damp conditions.

The drivers finally switched to slick rubber just half an hour before lunch, and Huertas made the most of the extra grip to go third quickest in his first official GP3 session. Costa also impressed the Carlin team to go 16th quickest on his GP3 debut.

With the key to learn as much as possible in the more powerful and aero efficient GP3 car, Costa completed 28 laps in this afternoon’s session which remained dry. Huertas completed less laps in the sister Carlin car but on his new tyre run catapulted once again to the top of the time sheets. A small mistake on his fastest lap cost the Colombian a few vital tenths, but the former F3 driver still finished third quickest behind GP3 regulars Mitch Evans and Mathias Laine. Running to a different test programme, Costa continued his learning curve in the GP3 car and finished the afternoon 24th.

Reflecting on his day’s testing, Huertas said, “In the morning we didn’t do much running as it was still wet and I did just one run on slick tyres and went third, which I was pretty satisfied with on my first morning in a GP3 car. In the afternoon we did some used tyre running, which again was good considering the tyre degradation. When we put the new tyres on in the afternoon I improved a lot from this morning in terms of sector times. I made a mistake on my best lap which I think could have put me second, but I’m satisfied with how the day went overall. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Both Huertas and Costa will complete a second day of testing in Barcelona tomorrow.