Home Z - Archive seriesGP3 Esteban Ocon leads dark and drizzly Sochi GP3 practice

Esteban Ocon leads dark and drizzly Sochi GP3 practice

by Peter Allen
Esteban Ocon

Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP3 Series Media Service

Esteban Ocon set the fastest time in a wet GP3 practice session that was run into near darkness at Sochi.

A red flag was triggered with 15 minutes left when Alex Fontana crashed heavily and the session was restarted with six minutes remaining despite the worsening conditions.

Ocon had gone to the top of the times just before the stoppage and his 2m09.319s remained as the best of the session.

He demoted Ralph Boschung to second, after the Swiss driver had earlier moved ahead of ART’s pairing of Marvin Kirchhofer and Ocon to sit atop the times.

Kevin Ceccon ended up fourth ahead of fellow Italian and championship leader Luca Ghiotto, who has 14 points in hand over Ocon.

Alex Palou was sixth in front of Jimmy Eriksson, Spa and Monza winner Emil Bernstorff and Fontana’s Status team-mates Sandy Stuvik and Seb Morris.

Session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Esteban Ocon ART Grand Prix 2:09.319 13
2 Ralph Boschung Jenzer Motorsport 2:09.526 0.207 14
3 Marvin Kirchhofer ART Grand Prix 2:09.583 0.264 13
4 Kevin Ceccon Arden International 2:09.723 0.404 14
5 Luca Ghiotto Trident 2:09.787 0.468 14
6 Alex Palou Campos Racing 2:09.878 0.559 15
7 Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen GP 2:10.030 0.711 15
8 Emil Bernstorff Arden International 2:10.089 0.770 14
9 Sandy Stuvik Status Grand Prix 2:10.200 0.881 13
10 Seb Morris Status Grand Prix 2:10.404 1.085 10
11 Alfonso Celis ART Grand Prix 2:10.407 1.088 12
12 Alex Fontana Status Grand Prix 2:10.617 1.298 10
13 Matt Parry Koiranen GP 2:10.786 1.467 12
14 Matheo Tuscher Jenzer Motorsport 2:10.793 1.474 13
15 Zaid Ashkanani Campos Racing 2:10.858 1.539 14
16 Pal Varhaug Jenzer Motorsport 2:10.990 1.671 15
17 Artur Janosz Trident 2:11.109 1.790 14
18 Jann Mardenborough Carlin 2:11.206 1.887 11
19 Konstantin Tereschenko Campos Racing 2:11.480 2.161 15
20 Michele Beretta Trident 2:11.619 2.300 15
21 Adderly Fong Koiranen GP 2:12.764 3.445 14
22 Antonio Fuoco Carlin 2:12.871 3.552 14
23 Mitch Gilbert Carlin 2:12.881 3.562 12
24 Alex Bosak Arden International 2:13.792 4.473 14