Championship leader Luca Ghiotto picked up from where he left off by leaving his rivals with no doubt of his speed, leading the practice session in Belgium. Carlin and Ferrari Academy Driver Antonio Fuoco was second and Jenzer Motorsport‘s Ralph Boschung rounded up the top three.
Early pacesetter Jann Mardenborough had a scary moment where he ran wide over a kerb at Eau Rouge resulting in the car becoming airborne; luckily the Briton was able to carry on without any issues.
Newcomer to Trident Motorsport and GP3 returnee, Beitske Visser, was up to P2, before Ghiotto and then Artur Janosz displaced her to third. Campos Racing’s Alex Palou was also on the move and the Spaniard jumped up to third fastest, before Jenzer’s Pal Varhaug rose to P1, first to lap in the 2:06s.
Ghiotto was not done yet and improved again on his next lap to increase his advantage to over six tenths. As the chequered flag came out, Fuoco found some extra pace to rise to second and reduce Ghiotto’s margin at the front to three tenths.
Behind the Italian duo of Ghiotto and Fuoco came; Boschung, Varhaug, Tuscher, Matthew Parry, Alex Fontana, Mitchell Gilbert, Janosz and Palou completed the top ten.
