Pierre Gasly was quickest in practice at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Friday but ended his session early when he stopped on track on the back straight.
The Prema Racing driver and current championship leader set a best time of 1:31.990 to lead the session, 0.152 seconds clear of Artem Markelov, who’s Russian Time machine also stopped on track within seconds of Gasly barely 100 metres further down the track.
At the same time, Nabil Jeffri spun wildly exciting the Ascari Chicane just as Gasly and Markelov stopped, but was able to keep going, although the virtual safety car was deployed to recover the other two stricken machines.
It was the one of three virtual safety cars during the session, with Jimmy Eriksson stopping his Arden International machine at the first chicane before being able to set a time, while the session was also affected by a crash by Philo Paz Armand at the exit of the Lesmos.
Antonio Giovinazzi led the Italian charge with third place in the second Prema entry, 0.235 seconds behind his team-mate, while Mitch Evans was fourth for Campos Racing ahead of Jordan King of Racing Engineering.
Oliver Rowland was sixth fastest for MP Motorsport ahead of Luca Ghiotto of Trident and Marvin Kirchhöfer of Carlin, while Arthur Pic of Rapax and Alex Lynn of DAMS completed the top ten.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Practice Result
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