Brazilian Pedro Piquet led the way in opening practice for the first FIA European Formula 3 Championship round of the season at Paul Ricard on Friday, while Lance Stroll ended the second on top as both were heavily affected by the weather.
Piquet led the way in FP1 for Van Amersfoort Racing with a best time of 1m26.525s with the field spread by almost ten seconds due to the rain, with Carlin’s Ryan Tveter second and ThreeBond with T-Sport’s Arjun Maini third.
Frenchman Anthoine Hubert was fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing, but was over two seconds off his team-mate’s pace, with Maximilian Günther fifth in the leading Prema Powerteam entry.
Mikkel Jensen, the sole Mücke Motorsport entry this weekend was sixth ahead of Carlin duo Alessio Lorandi and Raoul Hyman, while Hitech GP’s Ben Barnicoat and Prema Powerteam’s Nick Cassidy rounding out the top ten, with the New Zealander over seven seconds off the pace.
Prema Powerteam’s Stroll set the pace in the second session, with times much more condensed as weather conditions stabilised, with his time of 1m34.374s just ahead of Motopark’s Niko Kari.
Barnicoat was third ahead of Cassidy, with George Russell and Nikita Mazepin fifth and sixth for Hitech GP. Callum Ilott was seventh after making up lost time following a disrupted opening practice where he completed only three laps for Van Amersfoort Racing, with Hyman eighth ahead of Motopark’s Joel Eriksson, while Hubert completed the top ten.
Paul Ricard Free Practice 1 Result
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Paul Ricard Free Practice 2 Result
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