Esteban Guttierez posted the best time on the opening day of GP3 testing at Paul Ricard, ahead of Michael Christensen Pablo Sanchez Lopez.

After months of anticipation the GP3 Series got off to a flying start, with all 30 cars taking to the track in the first official test in the history of the
Series. Stormy conditions the day before the test thankfully cleared overnight and the young drivers were left with a dry, almost sunny morning in the South of France, albeit with very low temperatures.

Driving on a 3D configuration layout, first to take to the track were Buzaid and Chilton from Carlin, soon followed by the remainder of the field. After the first ever successful installation laps were completed by all ten teams, the session was paused for one hour in order for mechanics and engineers to closely analyse initial technical data from their new machinery.

When the session was given the green light again, the times improved consistently throughout the remainder of the morning, with times dropping drastically during the last thirty minutes.

Five drivers seemed more eager to top the sheets: Alexander Rossi driving for ART, Max Chilton (Carlin), Michael Christensen (MW Arden), Renger Van der Zander (RSC Mucke) and Kazimieras Vasiliauskas (Tech 1 Racing) who kept on swapping position. It was Rossi who eventually won the title of quickest man in the morning, finishing two hundredths ahead of Chilton, posting a time of 1:22.188 and completing 20 laps.

In the afternoon session the times continued to drop, and the impressive reliability of the cars was also apparent with 1324 laps completed throughout the day, covering an impressive distance of over 5000 km.

Ending the session on top was ART's Esteban Guttierez with a time of 1:20.949, over one second quicker than the fastest driver in the morning session. Michael Christensen and Pablo Sanchez Lopez (Addax Team) completed the top three. A total of eleven drivers posted a quicker lap time than this morning's best effort.

Esteban Guttierez, ART Grand Prix: Today was exciting because just looking at the car for a month without driving it was frustrating for me! Getting to know the car was our main goal of the day, and in the end it was also a good result for us. It is only the first day so we have to keep working. I had a good feeling with the car, and really enjoyed the high downforce: it is good for training for GP2. The feeling is also similar with paddle shifts. It is a really enjoyable car to drive.

Michael Christensen, MW Arden: It was not the best weather conditions in the beginning, but it went well from my side. We focused on bedding in the car. When the track got dryer we started improving both the car and my driving. It is really nice to drive and it's quicker than what I am used to driving which is good. The grip level is also very high.

Pablo Sanchez Lopez, Addax team: I have enjoyed every lap so much because you can always find another way to reach the limit. I'm happy with our performance today because it is such a competitive Series already, but we can still improve a lot. Tomorrow we will work again in understanding even better how the car works and keep pushing throughout the season.

Didier Perrin, GP3 Technical Director: It is inevitable to get a bit nervous before the first test day of a new Series. However, after the first hour today I was already quite pleased with the way things were going, especially when each of the teams had at least one or two cars on track so quickly into the session. Plus, I saw at least six of the young drivers fighting for on track position and overtaking each other in the very first laps of the Series history this is something I had never seen before!