Fukuzumi heads Day 1 of GP3 testing at Estoril
ART Grand Prix newcomer Nirei Fukuzumi topped the timesheets on the opening day of GP3 pre-season testing at Estoril.
Honda protege Fukuzumi, who hails from the Japanese F3 series, was quickest amid a flurry of improvements in the closing minutes of the day's running, heading Jake Dennis by 0.016s.
The morning session, taking place on a gradually drying track, was meanwhile topped by Campos driver Steijn Schothorst - with Dennis likewise second and Alexander Albon third.
However, the laptimes increased dramatically in the afteroon, with 16 drivers going above Schothorst's earlier benchmark.
Along with Dennis, also within a tenth of Fukuzumi were two of his teammates - Albon, placing third again, and Ferrari junior Charles Leclerc.
Ex-Formula Renault teammates Jack Aitken and Jake Hughes, now representing Arden and DAMS respectively, were fifth and sixth, ahead of Matt Parry, racing for the very Koiranen team that employed the former duo last year.
Alex Palou, Renault junior Kevin Jorg and series returnee Oscar Tunjo made up the top 10.
Day 1 results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | AM | PM |
| 1 | ART Grand Prix | 1:30.754 | 1:28.656 | |
| 2 | Arden International | 1:30.191 | 1:28.661 | |
| 3 | ART Grand Prix | 1:30.417 | 1:28.705 | |
| 4 | ART Grand Prix | 1:49.396 | 1:28.735 | |
| 5 | Arden International | 1:31.390 | 1:28.867 | |
| 6 | DAMS | 1:30.765 | 1:28.905 | |
| 7 | Koiranen GP | 1:30.590 | 1:28.978 | |
| 8 | Campos Racing | 1:30.582 | 1:29.031 | |
| 9 | DAMS | 1:31.764 | 1:29.133 | |
| 10 | Jenzer Motorsport | No Time | 1:29.150 | |
| 11 | Koiranen GP | 1:31.029 | 1:29.176 | |
| 12 | Trident | 1:31.715 | 1:29.378 | |
| 13 | Trident | 1:31.626 | 1:29.624 | |
| 14 | Arden International | 1:32.499 | 1:29.646 | |
| 15 | Campos Racing | 1:31.202 | 1:29.763 | |
| 16 | DAMS | 1:30.546 | 1:29.777 | |
| 17 | Campos Racing | 1:29.792 | 1:31.060 | |
| 18 | ART Grand Prix | 1:31.310 | 1:30.143 | |
| 19 | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:31.920 | 1:30.266 | |
| 20 | Koiranen GP | No Time | 1:31.548 | |
| 21 | Koiranen GP | 1:32.576 | 1:31.694 | |
| 22 | Trident | 1:40.830 | 1:38.694 | |
| 23 | Trident | 1:46.339 | 1:40.681 |
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