ART’s Anthoine Hubert replicated both his and the French outfit’s early pre-season form to go fastest as the second GP3 test of 2018 began at Jerez.

Hubert, who was quickest overall on the second day at Paul Ricard last month, set a time of 1m30.449s in the afternoon session.

The Frenchman ended above MP’s Dorian Boccolacci, who could only get within 0.022s of the pace.

Leonardo Pulcini finished third above Italian compatriot Alessio Lorandi, and Simo Laaksonen.

Lorandi, who won the sprint contest at the circuit last October, claimed the best time of the morning.

The Italian rose to first in the dying embers of a wet-dry session as the drivers gradually returned to near-normal times, with Lorandi just a tenth adrift of that of Nirei Fukuzumi’s 2017 pole.

Trident duo Giuliano Alesi and Pedro Piquet, sons of ex-Formula 1 racers Jean and Nelson Sr, were sixth and seventh.

ART’s Force India F1 tester Nikita Mazepin, Ryan Tveter and Niko Kari completed the top 10.

Ferrari academy prospect Callum Ilott was 14th, while Sauber F1 test driver Tatiana Calderon placed 15th.

All drivers bettered their efforts in the later session.

The field was shortened to 19 runners compared to the opening test as MP was only represented by two competitors.