Status GP3: Morad and Wickens 2nd Test report - Day 1

Le Castellet, France, 31st March 2010:  Status Grand Prix drivers Daniel Morad and Robert Wickens filled two positions in the Top Six of the afternoon timesheets as the GP3 Series teams embarked on the second official test sessions at the Paul Ricard HTTT circuit in southern France today. On a day of sunny, dry conditions, the team successfully worked through a series of set-up programmes,  as  its  three  Renault-powered  Dallara  cars  covering  over  1000  kilometres before new Pirelli tyres were bolted on at the end of the day to set a quick time.

Canadian Robert Wickens, fresh off the back of announcing his deal to drive with Status GP  for  the  full  2010  season,  ended  the  day  fourth  fastest.  Lebanon's  Daniel  Morad  had been in the top five until he was knocked down to sixth in the dying moments of the day, but  the  GMH  Motorsport-supported  driver  was  encouraged with  his  time  of  1m21.2s  that indicated his strong potential for the season ahead in the GP3 Series, which runs on the support bill of Formula One™ Grands Prix across Europe.

Ivan Lukashevich, who is a part of the Marussia Motors Driver Development programme, continued his rapid progress in adapting to the 280bhp GP3 Series car, going half a second quicker than he did in the previous test at Paul Ricard, despite a radiator problem curtailing his fastest run on new tyres at the end of the day.

Status GP team manager, Simon Cayzer said: "We had a good, solid day, with all three cars running reliably. The first test here three weeks ago was all about the initial learning curve and ironing out the teething problems of a new car. Now we've been able to work on performance and make progress."

The Drivers' View

Daniel Morad (LEB): (Laps: 81; Best afternoon time: 1m21.24s; Pos: 6th). "Overall, it was very positive. We had no major issues today, and made good progress in finding a nice balance with the car. At the end of the day I made a small mistake on my final run that lost a little bit of time, so it's encouraging there's still room for improvement."

Ivan Lukashevich (RUS): (Laps: 91; Best afternoon time: 1m22.91s; Pos: 27th). "The positive point is our speed is improving, and we tried a lot of different settings. I'm still understanding the car, and working with different downforce levels. We want to be further up the timesheets, but I did my time on old tyres and we're headed in the right direction."

Robert Wickens (CAN): (Laps: 64; Best afternoon time: 1m21.06s; Pos: 4th). "It's been a fairly productive day. We got through a lot of our test programme, even with small technical problems either side of lunch. It's nice to be in the top five - we're in the fight but there's still a lot of work to be done."

About Status Grand Prix: One of the fastest-emerging motorsport teams in the UK, Status Grand Prix is running a three-car entry in the GP3 Series in 2010. Founded in 2005, it is the reigning A1GP World Cup of Motorsport champion having run its A1 Team Ireland entry to the title with driver Adam Carroll.  Its  dedication  to  excellence  and  strong  engineering  has  also  brought  race  wins  for  the Canada and Netherlands A1GP entries.  This year it has expanded to a new base at Silverstone as it takes on the challenge of the new GP3 Series.

From www.statusgp.com