Kari quickest in French Free Practice at Paul Ricard

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Trident’s Niko Kari set the standard in Round 2 of the FIA Formula 3 campaign, lapping the Circuit Paul Ricard fastest in Free Practice.
 
His time of 1:51.305 was enough to put him ahead of Championship leader Robert Shwartzman and Hitech Grand Prix’s Leonardo Pulcini.
 
Fabio Scherer’s Sauber Junior Team by Charouz motor was the first car of the weekend to hit the dusty circuit in warm early morning conditions, as he got us underway in France. Richard Verschoor was the early pace setter though and would be the first to break the 2m mark, setting 1:57.876.
 
Barcelona Race 1 winner Shwartzman soon set about reminding the rest of the grid of his prowess and took the lead with 1:54.672. The Russian was closely followed by his PREMA teammate Marcus Armstrong, who was just 0.118s slower.
 
The Kiwi would quickly usurp his teammate and take his place in first, before Jehan Daruvala outdone them both and became the third PREMA man to top the timings. The trio continued to exchange places before Kari broke up the party and set the quickest time in 1m54s.
 
Max Fewtrell, Jüri Vips, Jake Hughes, Christian Lundgaard and Devlin DeFrancesco would all take turns in first as the times flew in and the grid evidenced the competition amongst them. Not to be outdone, Shwartzman toppled the lot and broke the 1m52s barrier to reclaim P1.
 
With two minutes remaining the Russian was sitting pretty at the top, having acclimatised himself to the track and the day’s conditions. Equally comfortable was Trident ace Kari, who went 0.594s faster and knocked Shwartzman off his perch.

Lundgaard would go wide in his attempts to join them at the front, leaving Kari in P1, followed closely by the Championship leader. Pulcini completed the front three and behind them it was Daruvala, Fewtrell, Piquet, Verschoor, Hughes, Felipe Drugovich and Armstrong.
 
Action will recommence this afternoon at 5.50pm local time, as the cars pit themselves against each other in what is sure to be an intense qualifying session. 
 
2019 FIA Formula 3 Championship – Round 2 Free Practice classification
 
 POS. 
DRIVER
TEAM
LAPTIME
LAPS
1
Niko Kari
Trident
1:51.305
17
2
Robert Shwartzman
PREMA Racing
1:51.349
17
3
Leonardo Pulcini
Hitech Grand Prix
1:51.439
18
4
Jehan Daruvala
PREMA Racing
1:51.683
15
5
Max Fewtrell
ART Grand Prix
1:51.704
16
6
Pedro Piquet
Trident
1:51.806
19
7
Richard Verschoor
MP Motorsport
1:51.807
20
8
Jake Hughes
HWA RACELAB
1:51.892
19
9
Felipe Drugovich
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:51.960
17
10
Marcus Armstrong
PREMA Racing
1:51.969
18
11
Lirim Zendeli
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:52.003
21
12
Christian Lundgaard
ART Grand Prix
1:52.086
17
13
Juri Vips
Hitech Grand Prix
1:52.161
18
14
David Beckmann
ART Grand Prix
1:52.203
16
15
Devlin DeFrancesco
Trident
1:52.247
19
16
Ye Yifei
Hitech Grand Prix
1:52.614
18
17
Sebastian Fernandez
Campos Racing
1:52.737
17
18
Yuki Tsunoda
Jenzer Motorsport
1:52.749
18
19
Simo Laaksonen
MP Motorsport
1:52.937
19
20
Raoul Hyman
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:52.978
19
21
Bent Viscaal
HWA RACELAB
1:53.058
18
22
Keyvan Andres
HWA RACELAB
1:53.106
19
23
Andreas Estner
Jenzer Motorsport
1:53.439
18
24
Teppei Natori
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:53.540
17
25
Alex Peroni
Campos Racing
1:53.555
17
26
Liam Lawson
MP Motorsport
1:53.936
19
27
Logan Sargeant
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:53.969
17
28
Fabio Scherer
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:55.020
18
29
Alessio Deledda
Campos Racing
1:55.086
18
 

         

 

 

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