Frenchman tops Le Castellet Free Practice
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| Written by: Fanni Váradi | Photo: Media GP3 |
The second round of the GP3 season 2018 started today in the south of France at the Circuit Paul Ricard when the drivers headed into the free practice in sunny conditions. Local driver Anthoine Hubert stopped the clock at 1:51.091 at his home circuit closing a gap of almost half a second on his teammate Jake Hughes.
When the red lights went off Hughes opened the first official session followed by his ART counterparts. The Finnish Niko Kari set the first lap clocking in a 2:02.529 to begin the free practice.
A short safety car period pulled back the session before Anthoine Hubert cut the lap times below two minutes showing a 1:55.970 ahead of his teammates Hughes, Ilott and Mazepin putting ART dominating the first 10 minutes.
Ryan Tveter broke the ART’s top time and time before the ARTs once again swarmed the top at the fifteen minute mark, before Dorian Boccolacci leapfrogged the lot prior to a yellow flag period, brought out for the stopped Arden International car of Gabriel Aubry.
Shortly the yellow flag was brought out again following some hydraulic issues for Jenzer Motorsport’s Juan Manuel Correa.
The session then resumed to full-speed running and Dorian Boccolacci improved by two tenths out of his time taking first place before Illot set the pace into the 1:51 overtaking the Frenchman. Illot’s teammates improved taking the place from him and setting it 1-2-3 ART half an hour before the end.
ART dominated the remainder of the session with Hubert taking four tenths out of his fastest lap and jumping ahead of his teammates taking the first position. Hughes heading second-best followed by Nikita Mazepin and Callum Illiot who finished only 0.02 seconds before Dorian Boccolacci.
The program continues with the Qualifying session, taking place at 7pm local time.
Full results:
2018 GP3 Series Round 2 – Le Castellet, France – Free Practice
Driver |
Team |
Time |
Laps | |
1 |
Anthoine Hubert |
ART Grand Prix |
1:51.091 |
17 |
2 |
Jake Hughes |
ART Grand Prix |
1:51.540 |
17 |
3 |
Nikita Mazepin |
ART Grand Prix |
1:51.577 |
18 |
4 |
Callum Ilott |
ART Grand Prix |
1:51.587 |
18 |
5 |
Dorian Boccolacci |
MP Motorsport |
1:51.607 |
19 |
6 |
Giuliano Alesi |
Trident |
1:51.794 |
18 |
7 |
Leonardo Pulcini |
Campos Racing |
1:51.819 |
16 |
8 |
Joey Mawson |
Arden International |
1:51.868 |
20 |
9 |
Niko Kari |
MP Motorsport |
1:51.872 |
19 |
10 |
Pedro Piquet |
Trident |
1:52.024 |
18 |
11 |
Christian Lundgaard |
MP Motorsport |
1:52.179 |
20 |
12 |
Simo Laaksonen |
Campos Racing |
1:52.195 |
17 |
13 |
Tatiana Calderon |
Jenzer Motorsport |
1:52.221 |
17 |
14 |
Ryan Tveter |
Trident |
1:52.276 |
19 |
15 |
David Beckmann |
Jenzer Motorsport |
1:52.581 |
17 |
16 |
Julien Falchero |
Arden International |
1:53.364 |
18 |
17 |
Diego Menchaca |
Campos Racing |
1:54.143 |
18 |
18 |
Gabriel Aubry |
Arden International |
1:54.204 |
7 |
19 |
Alessio Lorandi |
Trident |
1:54.559 |
10 |
20 |
Juan Manuel Correa |
Jenzer Motorsport |
1:56.244 |
10 |