GP3 2013

RasputinLives

No passing through my dirty air please
Contributor
So this weekend at Barcelona the 4th season of GP3 kicks off. Like last year it will be spread over 8 rounds with a feature race on the Saturday and a sprint race on Sunday. Unlike last year though we have the second generation GP3 car for the field to compete in which is nearly 5 seconds a lap quicker. Former champions Gutierriez and Bottas have already jumped up to the F1 grid and last years champion Mitch Evans is now plying his talents in GP2 so its clear to the young drivers on the grid that doing well in the series will see you climb the ladder.

The Red Bull Junior team are usually the one's to watch but Sainz Jr and Kvyat, who have the bums in those seats, do have the added pressure of the Red Bull connection. Conor Daly has to be on the list of favourites in the ART team and Lewis Williamson is one to watch having already been courted by Ferrari.

If your looking for Brits to get excited about then Jack Harvey and Dino Zamperreli might be the ones for you, our Finnish posters might be excited about the new Finnish team on the grid and if you're looking for an outside bet Swiss driver Neiderhauder (sic) has been the fastest in first practice.

With Vicky Piria and Alice Powell both dropping out of GP3 due to lack of funds (Powell is smashing the field over in the F3 Cup by the way) its left to Carman Jorda at Bamboo racing (brilliant name) and Saimen Gomez to fly the flag for the GP3 ladies with Gomez looking the slightly quicker of the two.

So anyone looking forward to GP3? Anyone got any thoughts on it?
 
In my haste to get the article up before quali I forgot to mention Luis Sa Silva who is Angola's top race driver and the dark horse that is you Estonian Kevin Koujas who looked very handy in the World Series at 19 last year and I have a sneaky suspicion will make it to F1 one day.
 
I'll be watching GP3 this year when possible. Saw race 1 and it was decent. I think Will Buxton said the new cars were 4.5 seconds faster at Barcelona this year.

Conor Daly is off to Indianapolis now for the month and will be racing for Foyt in the 500.
 
I think the GP3 boys know how to behave themselves better than the GP2 lot.

Daly is my favourite for the title I think.
 
It's a shame that they are not in our TV schedule, unlike the GP3 races supporting F1. The same thing happened on last year's GP2 standalone at Bahrain and when Porsche Supercup raced in the long Nürburgring couple of years ago.
 
Great win for Jack Harvey in race 1, to follow Sam Bird's win in the GP2 feature race. A good weekend at Silverstone for the Brits so far.:thumbsup:
 
Indeed. He looked well in control didn't he?

Felt a bit sorry for another Brit Lewis Williamson who managed to get all the way up from 19th to 8th only to be pushed off the track by Sainz. Bit of niggle there as Williamson was dropoed by the Red Bull driver programme for Sainz Jr to come in. Guess Carlos was a bit peeved at being shown up. His season is not going great!
 
Another good performance from a Brit in race 2, this time Nick Yelloly, who spent the whole race tucked up behind eventual winner Giovanni Venturini. It was a bit of a processional affair to be honest after the first lap when Yelloly almost got past Venturini at Abbey / Village. Good driving by both throughout, which is more than can be said for some of the GP2 drivers.

It's turning into a very good weekend for British drivers with a maiden win in GP2 for John Lancaster.
 
I should add, Lancaster drove a storming GP2 race. He made afntastic start from third when he got past the two in front of him almost immediately, after which he led all the way. Sam Bird finished 5th from 7th on the grid, after narrowly escaping the carnage after Jolyon Palmer got punted off at Abbey on lap 1 (by Richelmi I think). Jolyon was very unlucky. Having fought back well from that incident he got taken out towards the end by Canamasas who was a lap down and had earlier been trying to unlap himself from the car ahead. Where were the blue flags? Palmer out, Canamasas given a stop-go penalty.
 
How about the start of the GP3 race Saturday! Conor Daly nearly went from 9th to 2nd. But was adjudged to have jumped the start, by about a hundredth of a second I'd say.
 
Yeah it was a close call. Double nothing for Daly this weekend was not good eslecially as Ellinas did not have the best machinary at all. Daly needed to make hay whilst the sun shone down. Instead some crafty driving from Ellinas means he's extended his lead and the very decent looking Koujas has come to the party.
 
Caught up with the GP3 and just wanted to doth my cap to 19 year old Melville Mckee for his first win in GP3 in the sprint race on Sunday. Mckee is in his first year in GP3 and only his third year in single seater racing. Alexander Simms was second with Nick Yelloy third making it an all british podium.

We've had 8 winners from 8 races in GP3 but the only person who has been consistant through out is Teo Ellinas who leads the championship by quite a margin now. Sainz JR has been nowhere and Daly has had two poor weekends so his challenge seems to have dropped away. Let that take nothing away from him though. Looking forward to seeing him in an F1 car at the young drivers test and I still thinkbhe's an outside bet for the Marussia F1 seat in 2014.
 
Zamparelli is definitely the Grosjean of the future. T-Bones his team mate at the 1st Corner at Monza taking out another 3/4 cars in the process!
 
It was the Liuzzi route through turn one wasn't it?

Poor old Teo Elinas hasn't put a foot wrong this year and has list his championship lead because he's been taken out at the first corner two rounds running!

Looking good for Kyvat today. Bet he fancies the vacent Toro Rosso seat.
 
That seat has Sainz written all over it. He made a cracking start before being Zamperelli'd. He's flying through the field.
 
Well I think Felix Da Costa is favourite for it but Kyvat has been far more consistant than Sainz this year and might just make it two wins in a row. Sainz is where the excitment is right now though.

With Daly and Elinas out Regalia needs to just bring it home to have a nice comfy championship lead with just a sprint race and the Abu Dhabi round left. Not the guy I'd have picked to take this title at all!
 
Danny Kvyat does his best Sebastian Vettel impression and has the race won by the end of lap one and sets the fastest lap on the last lap when he had a huge lead anyway!

Some cracking midfield scraps though. Sainz Jr just ran out of laps in the end.

Regalia has an 11 point lead from Kvyat now which is crazy as just 3 weeks ago it looked like a fight between Elinas and Daly! Just sprint race and the round at Abu Dhabi to go. Squeaky bum time!
 
Zamperelli suspended for the next race. He left the track by his own choice to gain places. Wasn't forced off. It was a move straight from online f1 racing.
 
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