Summarize

South Africa’s Raoul Hyman delivered a stellar performance to top the time sheets in the opening GP3 test of the season at Estoril, Portugal Wednesday morning 22 March. Hyman’s blistering pace was all the more impressive considering he had never seen the Estoril track before this week.

Raoul was sitting second on full wet weather rubber earlier in the morning before he was the only driver to venture out on slicks as the track dried before lunch, when he went quickest by some margin. “I was really pleased to be quickest in this morning’s session and I think we raised a few eyebrows by going for slicks, but it worked,” Raoul explained. “We were also strong when the conditions were stable, so I’m grateful for the support from Campos and my chief engineer."

Raoul then enjoyed a productive afternoon session and was looking forward to his flying lap at the end of the day. It started very well as Hyman lit up the timing monitors as he went purple with the quickest first and second sectors, but he hit traffic in the final sector, which thwarted an almost certain quickest lap of the day. 

“My quick lap this afternoon was still good enough for third, just a tenth off the quickest guy, but I’m a little disappointed for the team because I was held up in the final sector and lost three-tenths. “So the fastest lap was there for the taking, but this result shows how much work Campos has put in over the winter. 

“Adrian has made a significant investment in his facilities and also brought in exceptional talent like Jan and that's certainly paid off. “We are in the hunt and I hope my pace today helps my management team and sponsors finalise our plans for this year.”

Thursday sees the second day of the Estoril GP3 test with Hyman keen to close off in style. “I’m looking forward to more good progress tomorrow — another strong performance will have a positive effect on my chances on racing a full season this year.”