Home Z - Archive seriesGP3 Richie Stanaway quickest in GP3 practice session in Sochi

Richie Stanaway quickest in GP3 practice session in Sochi

by Peter Allen
Richie Stanaway

Photo: GP3 Media Service

Richie Stanaway showed that he won’t be taking the GP3 title fight lying down as he set the pace in free practice for the penultimate round at Sochi.

Stanaway needs to outscore championship leader Alex Lynn this weekend in order to take the points race down to the final round, and began well by posting the best time of 1m52.876s.

Dean Stoneman appeared to be unaffected by a late change of team to Koiranen for the final two rounds after Marussia Manor withdrew from the trip to Sochi for commercial reasons. The Briton was second quickest, 0.233s down on Stanaway, as he looks to continue the form that took him to wins at Spa and Monza.

Emil Bernstorff led for a large part of the session and ended up third, with the ART duo of Dino Zamparelli and Marvin Kirchhofer separating him and his Carlin team-mate Lynn in sixth.

The third ART driver Alex Fontana was seventh, with the top ten completed by Nick Yelloly, Jimmy Eriksson and Matheo Tuscher.

Stoneman’s former Marussia Manor team-mate Patrick Kujala has joined Trident for this weekend as part of a two-car entry from the Italian squad alongside Mitch Gilbert, and the pair were 13th and 20th respectively.

One other change for this weekend sees Nikolay Martsenko return to Hilmer for the first time since Barcelona, replacing Sebastian Balthasar for his home round. Martsenko was last of the 23 entries in practice.

Session results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Richie Stanaway Status Grand Prix 1:52.876 20
2 Dean Stoneman Koiranen GP 1:53.109 0.233 18
3 Emil Bernstorff Carlin 1:53.184 0.308 20
4 Dino Zamparelli ART Grand Prix 1:53.305 0.429 17
5 Marvin Kirchhofer ART Grand Prix 1:53.325 0.449 18
6 Alex Lynn Carlin 1:53.365 0.489 20
7 Alex Fontana ART Grand Prix 1:53.414 0.538 18
8 Nick Yelloly Status Grand Prix 1:53.464 0.588 18
9 Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen GP 1:53.485 0.609 17
10 Matheo Tuscher Jenzer Motorsport 1:53.550 0.674 20
11 Patric Niederhauser Arden International 1:53.570 0.694 20
12 Robert Visoiu Arden International 1:53.591 0.715 21
13 Patrick Kujala Trident 1:53.972 1.096 18
14 Pal Varhaug Jenzer Motorsport 1:54.018 1.142 20
15 Jann Mardenborough Arden International 1:54.062 1.186 18
16 Kevin Ceccon Jenzer Motorsport 1:54.068 1.192 20
17 Nelson Mason Hilmer Motorsport 1:54.518 1.642 20
18 Riccardo Agostini Hilmer Motorsport 1:54.546 1.670 19
19 Alfonso Celis Status Grand Prix 1:54.672 1.796 20
20 Mitch Gilbert Trident 1:54.915 2.039 20
21 Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1:54.925 2.049 18
22 Santiago Urrutia Koiranen GP 1:54.991 2.115 18
23 Nikolay Martsenko Hilmer Motorsport 1:55.669 2.793 20