By alley - Nov 27, 2014, 9:45 AM ET

GP3: Ceccon tops Abu Dhabi test

Kevin Ceccon led the opening day of post-season GP3 testing in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, with Formula Renault Eurocup race winner Andrea Pizzitola best of the newcomers.

Driving for the Jenzer team with which he contested the latter part of the 2014 season, Ceccon topped the first test session with a 1m55.501s lap before handing over to regular teammate Matheo Tuscher for the afternoon.

European Formula 3 racer Ed Jones was second for Carlin in the first session, albeit six tenths down on Ceccon. He only narrowly shaded McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award finalist and BRDC Formula 4 champion George Russell, who starred on a prize drive with Arden by taking third place.

Pizzitola was fourth in the first session, but took his ART car to the top later on, ahead of Mitch Gilbert and Euroformula Open frontrunner Alex Palou. Artur Janosz, who beat Palou to second in Euroformula Open this year, completed the session two top six, behind Tuscher and Russell.

Last year's BRDC Award winner Matt Parry also made his GP3 debut in the test, setting top-10 times for Status in both sessions. Another newcomer to impress was GT racer Christopher Mies. The 25-year-old German was seventh in the morning for Hilmer.

Morning session

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Kevin Ceccon	Jenzer Motorsport	1m 55.501s	-	26
2	Edward Jones	Carlin	1m 56.165s	0.664s	24
3	George Russell	Arden International	1m 56.198s	0.697s	27
4	Andrea Pizzitola	ART Grand Prix	1m 56.220s	0.719s	25
5	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	1m 56.264s	0.763s	23
6	Patrick Kujala	Arden International	1m 56.309s	0.808s	18
7	Christopher Mies	Hilmer Motorsport	1m 56.474s	0.973s	32
8	Ralph Boschung	Jenzer Motorsport	1m 56.511s	1.010s	30
9	Mitchell Gilbert	Arden International	1m 56.703s	1.202s	25
10	Matt Parry	Status Grand Prix	1m 56.705s	1.204s	26
11	Steijn Schothorst	Koiranen GP	1m 56.819s	1.318s	26
12	Antonio Fuoco	Koiranen GP	1m 56.973s	1.472s	20
13	Ryan Cullen	Koiranen GP	1m 56.993s	1.492s	16
14	Gustavo Menezes	Carlin	1m 57.043s	1.542s	30
15	Alex Palou	Trident	1m 57.176s	1.675s	25
16	Alfonso Celis	Status Grand Prix	1m 57.189s	1.688s	23
17	Raoul Hyman	Jenzer Motorsport	1m 57.316s	1.815s	22
18	Tatiana Calderon	ART Grand Prix	1m 57.325s	1.824s	28
19	Kang Ling	Hilmer Motorsport	1m 57.341s	1.840s	21
20	Seb Morris	Status Grand Prix	1m 57.670s	2.169s	19
21	Amaury Bonduel	Trident	1m 57.867s	2.366s	27
22	Matt Rao	Carlin	1m 58.265s	2.764s	24
23	Artur Janosz	ART Grand Prix	1m 58.557s	3.056s	20

Afternoon session

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Andrea Pizzitola	ART Grand Prix	1m 55.832s	-	29
2	Mitchell Gilbert	Arden International	1m 55.885s	0.053s	25
3	Alex Palou	Trident	1m 55.971s	0.139s	25
4	Matheo Tuscher	Jenzer Motorsport	1m 56.034s	0.202s	22
5	George Russell	Arden International	1m 56.078s	0.246s	23
6	Artur Janosz	ART Grand Prix	1m 56.258s	0.426s	23
7	Matt Parry	Status Grand Prix	1m 56.475s	0.643s	22
8	Alfonso Celis	Status Grand Prix	1m 56.491s	0.659s	25
9	Ryan Cullen	Koiranen GP	1m 56.517s	0.685s	20
10	Ralph Boschung	Jenzer Motorsport	1m 56.559s	0.727s	18
11	Gustavo Menezes	Carlin	1m 56.560s	0.728s	19
12	Luca Ghiotto	Trident	1m 56.570s	0.738s	16
13	Steijn Schothorst	Koiranen GP	1m 56.595s	0.763s	15
14	Edward Jones	Carlin	1m 56.684s	0.852s	18
15	Antonio Fuoco	Koiranen GP	1m 56.783s	0.951s	26
16	Seb Morris	Status Grand Prix	1m 56.846s	1.014s	19
17	Patrick Kujala	Arden International	1m 56.946s	1.114s	26
18	Raoul Hyman	Jenzer Motorsport	1m 56.989s	1.157s	30
19	Tatiana Calderon	ART Grand Prix	1m 57.068s	1.236s	22
20	Christopher Mies	Hilmer Motorsport	1m 57.404s	1.572s	28
21	Kang Ling	Hilmer Motorsport	1m 57.720s	1.888s	27
22	Amaury Bonduel	Trident	1m 59.153s	3.321s	19
23	Matt Rao	Carlin	1m 59.405s	3.573s	19