Monza 1 Sept 2017: Indian racer Arjun Maini of Jenzer Motorsport was 8th fastest in the  even as Nirei Fukuzumi grabbed the top spot late in the afternoon’s GP3 Series free practice session at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, setting his best lap on the last tour to stop the clocks at 1:38.594 and lead home an ART Grand Prix ahead of George Russell, Anthoine Hubert and Jack Aitken.

The session opened with the circuit bathed in sunshine despite large, ominous looking clouds overhead, with all the field taking straight to the track to get some laps under their belts. Dorian Boccolacci, Leonardo Pulcini and Fukuzumi set the early pace before Hubert grabbed P1 with a 40.009 as most of the field looked for some race run information.

Giuliano Alesi took over the top spot at the 30 minute mark, with teammate Ryan Tveter playing rear gunner in P2 ahead of the ARTs, until it was all change in the final 5 minutes of the session with Hubert, Boccolacci, Fukuzumi, Aitken, Russell and then finally Fukuzumi taking the top spot again as the flag dropped for the end of the session.

There were 14 drivers within a second of P1, with Boccolacci, Steijn Schothorst, Pulcini, Arjun Maini, Alessio Lorandi and new driver Dan Ticktum rounding out the top ten. Qualifying promises to be equally tight: the session starts tomorrow morning at 9.45 local time.

Provisional Free Practice Classification

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

Nirei Fukuzumi

ART Grand Prix

1:38.594

17

George Russell

ART Grand Prix

1:38.693

18

Anthoine Hubert

ART Grand Prix

1:38.776

19

Jack Aitken

ART Grand Prix

1:38.786

19

Dorian Boccolacci

Trident

1:38.933

21

Steijn Schothorst

Arden International

1:38.963

20

Leonardo Pulcini

Arden International

1:38.971

19

Arjun Maini

Jenzer Motorsport

1:39.033

21

Alessio Lorandi

Jenzer Motorsport

1:39.148

17

Daniel Ticktum

DAMS

1:39.232

20

Marcos Siebert

Campos Racing

1:39.298

20

Juan-Manuel Correa

Jenzer Motorsport

1:39.470

20

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:39.518

22

Niko Kari

Arden International

1:39.565

18

Raoul Hyman

Campos Racing

1:39.776

20

Bruno Baptista

DAMS

1:39.860

17

Ryan Tveter

Trident

1:39.923

22

Julien Falchero

Campos Racing

1:39.968

19

Tatiana Calderon

DAMS

1:40.411

18

Kevin Jörg

Trident

1:41.112

20

eom/GP3 Series press release