Richie Stanaway ended GP3 Series practice at the Hockenheimring as the quickest man yesterday.
The Status Grand Prix man ended the session just two-tenths up on ART Grand Prix racer and local man Marvin Kirchhöfer, while Stanaway’s teammate Nick Yelloly claimed 3rd.
Despite the close of the evening, practice was still held very much in hot conditions, as track temperatures remained in the mid-40s° Celsius range, ensuring
Stanaway’s quickest reference point – a 1:29.473 – came in the five minutes of the session, although the Kiwi had spent much of the session near the top of the order.
ART Grand Prix also had a second car in the top four as Dino Zamparelli ran well, just edging ahead of Patrick Kujala (Koiranen GP) and Emil Bernstorff (Carlin) – the latter of whom enjoyed an adventured through the gravel at one point.
Patric Niederhauser (Arden) was the first of the driver’s unable to breach the 1’30s barrier. He pipped points leader Alex Lynn (Carlin) by just 0.008s come the end of the 45-minute session. Lynn’s title rival Jimmy Eriksson (Koiranen) could do no better than 22nd.
There were two quite embarrassing moments, as first Adderly Fong ran wide at turn one, but kept his foot down and eventually lost control, pitching him into the inside barriers at pit exit.
Also Riccardo Agostini ended the practice beached on the fake grass in the stadium section after he ran off at the tail end of the session.
It may matter little. This is only practice and qualifying comes later this morning and conditions may vary wildly under the morning sun.
2014 GP3 Round of Germany (Rd 4, Free Practice) Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1. Richie Stanaway Status 1m29.473s 16 2. Marvin Kirchhöfer ART 1m29.678s +0.205s 18 3. Nick Yelloly Status 1m29.729s +0.256s 14 4. Dino Zamparelli ART 1m29.740s +0.267s 18 5. Patrick Kujala Manor 1m29.792s +0.319s 20 6. Emil Bernstorff Carlin 1m29.814s +0.341s 18 7. Patric Niederhauser Arden 1m30.085s +0.612s 21 8. Alex Lynn Carlin 1m30.093s +0.620s 17 9. Roman de Beer Trident 1m30.241s +0.768s 20 10. Riccardo Agostini Hilmer 1m30.295s +0.822s 18 11. Dean Stoneman Manor 1m30.352s +0.879s 18 12. Alex Fontana ART 1m30.459s +0.986s 19 13. Mitchell Gilbert Trident 1m30.475s +1.002s 17 14. Luis Sa Silva Carlin 1m30.543s +1.070s 18 15. Sebastian Balthasar Hilmer 1m30.609s +1.136s 25 16. Robert Visoiu Arden 1m30.621s +1.148s 20 17. Pal Varhaug Jenzer 1m30.627s +1.154s 22 18. Matheo Tuscher Jenzer 1m30.706s +1.233s 22 19. Nelson Mason Hilmer 1m30.727s +1.254s 18 20. Jann Mardenborough Arden 1m30.768s +1.295s 22 21. Alfonso Celis Status 1m30.770s +1.29?s 18 22. Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen 1m30.979s +1.506s 16 23. Ryan Cullen Manor 1m31.166s +1.693s 22 24. Adderly Fong Jenzer 1m31.792s +2.319s 13 25. Victor Carbone Trident 1m31.813s +2.340s 14 26. Santiago Urrutia Koiranen 1m32.401s +2.928s 18 27. Carmen Jorda Koiranen 1m35.289s +5.816s 19
