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Lynn leads the way in the GP3 practice

The Briton finished the practice on top, way ahead from his rivals. Bernstorff was second and Yelloly was third.

The GP3 Series made its debut at Red Bull Ring this afternoon. Although it was a new addition to the calendar, several drivers already raced in other formulas at the famous Austrian track, which was a bit tricky to drive due to cold weather conditions and the rain that fell during the Formula 1 and GP2 sessions.

The practice had to be red-flagged with 26 minutes remaining, when De Beer made contact with the wall in the main straight after running wide on the kerb of the last corner. This made the drivers finish their first stints earlier than expected, although many of them were able to complete eight laps before the red flag came out.

As usual, the times were close and the top 12 drivers were covered by one second. The bigger improvements came in the closing stages of the session, when the grip were improving and the track conditions were better than in the beginning of the practice.

Lynn was the quickest and dominated almost the entire session. The current championship leader set a time of 1:20.538 that was half a second faster than his closest rivals. The Briton was the only driver that could break the 1:20 barrier and he is already one of the favourites for the pole position tomorrow morning.

In second place finished his teammate at Carlin, Bernstorff. The fellow countryman was 0.5s off the pace and set consistent lap times, so he could make a good impression in qualifying and the race tomorrow.

Very close to Bernstorff finished another Briton, Yelloly. The Status GP driver was only 0.007s slower than his countryman and with consistency he should be able to fight for the pole position and get a good result in the race.

The top 5 was completed by two surprising drivers. The Uruguayan Urrutia finished fourth, 0.749s off the pace, but he started the weekend way better than he did at Barcelona, where he couldn’t get into the top 10 in any of the races. Agostini, who joined Hilmer in this round, was fifth.

Results:

Pos.CarDriver
TeamNationLapsTimeGap
110Alex LynnRCarlinGBR221:20,538
211Emil BernstorffRCarlinGBR221:21,125+ 0,587
326Nick Yelloly
Status Grand PrixGBR211:21,132+ 0,594
49Santiago UrrutiaRKoiranen GPURG181:21,287+ 0,749
519Riccardo AgostiniRHilmer MotorsportITA201:21,351+ 0,813
618Nelson MasonRHilmer MotorsportCAN231:21,371+ 0,833
714Patrick Kujala
Marussia Manor RacingFIN221:21,39+ 0,852
84Robert Visoiu
Arden InternationalROM211:21,411+ 0,873
928Alfonso Celis Jr.RStatus Grand PrixMEX221:21,46+ 0,922
103Dino Zamparelli
ART Grand PrixGBR201:21,473+ 0,935
1121Mathéo TuscherRJenzer MotorsportCHE191:21,481+ 0,943
1216Dean Stoneman
Marussia Manor RacingGBR221:21,497+ 0,959
132Marvin KirchhöferRART Grand PrixGER201:21,548+ 1,01
145Patric Neiderhauser
Arden InternationalCHE221:21,658+ 1,12
156Jan Mardenborough
Arden InternationalGBR211:21,905+ 1,367
1627Richie stanaway
Status Grand PrixNZL191:21,952+ 1,414
171Alex Fontana
ART Grand PrixCHE191:21,953+ 1,415
1812Luis Sá Silva
CarlinANG221:22,026+ 1,488
1920Pal Varhaug
Jenzer MotorsportNOR201:22,269+ 1,731
2022Adderly Fong
Jenzer MotorsportCHI221:22,295+ 1,757
218Jimmy Eriksson
Koiranen GPSWE181:23,021+ 2,483
2217Nikolay MartsenkoRHilmer MotorsportRUS201:23,403+ 2,865
2315Ryan Cullen
Marussia Manor RacingGBR221:23,656+ 3,118
2424Roman de BeerRTridentRSA71:23,902+ 3,364
2523Victor CarboneRTridentBRA181:24,462+ 3,924
267Carmen Jordà
Koiranen GPSPA201:24,687+ 4,149