Victor Martins made a positive start to Round 3, ending up fastest for ART Grand Prix in Free Practice. A 1:45.671 was the time to beat in a session that got quicker with every lap completed.
Roman Stanek started positively too for Invicta Racing, finishing second ahead of Dino Beganovic, who made a late improvement to go third for Hitech TGR.
After the tyre preparation laps, Joshua Duerksen set an early benchmark with a 1:49.034 for AIX Racing.
The times fell with every subsequent lap as Martins put ART on top with 10 minutes run on a 1:47.735, until Kush Maini pipped him by 0.012s. Stanek was next to go quickest, a 1:47.689 by the Invicta driver meant the top three was separated by just 0.046s.
The trio improved once again but this time it was Maini who led the way, 1:46.437 for the DAMS Lucas Oil driver leaving him 0.3s clear ahead of Stanek and F2’s latest Feature Race winner, Alexander Dunne.
Jak Crawford put in an improved time to cut the deficit to teammate Maini to just 0.013s, but Martins went back to the top shortly afterwards. A 1:46.432 left him clear by 0.005s and 0.018s from the DAMS pair.
Leonardo Fornaroli then made the margins even tighter at the top, going fourth and 0.019s off the leading ART driver.
Duerksen returned to P1 with 15 minutes of the session to go as the Paraguayan set a 1:46.387, leaving the top five separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Stanek then restored Invicta to the top of the pile as he moved onto a 1:46.217. Crawford cut the gap to 0.031s as he improved to second as Martins then went third and 0.087s off the top.
Gabriele Minì took P1 for PREMA Racing, but only briefly, as a storming lap by Stanek resulted in a 1:45.820 and the fastest time once again.
Into the final five minutes and times continued to fall. Martins laid down the marker of a 1:45.671 to go back ahead of Stanek.