Richie Stanaway set the fastest time in the 45-minute free practice session for the opening round of the 2014 GP3 Series season at Barcelona.
The ex-Lotus Formula 1 junior was on the fringes of the top 10 for the majority of the session before vaulting to the top of the order with less than five minutes remaining. His time of 1m36.357s was 0.329 seconds better than Roman de Beer’s best effort, after he enjoyed a brief spell at the top of the timesheets before the Status Grand Prix driver improved.
Luis Sa Silva was another driver to make late gains to claim third, ahead of Marvin Kirchhofer, who had sat comfortably in first place before the top trio put in their fastest laps. The reigning German Formula 3 driver was followed by 17-year-old Santiago Urrutia in the order and pre-season pacesetter Nick Yelloly, who had the most productive afternoon with 18 laps under his belt. Red Bull-backed Alex Lynn began his debut GP3 season by finishing seventh, ahead of series returnee Dino Zamparelli. Dean Stoneman marked his full-time return to single-seater racing with 17th for Manor Racing, while Jann Mardenborough finished 1.529s off the ultimate pace in 21st.
The session was briefly interrupted 20 minutes from its conclusion when rookie Ivan Taranov stopped on track after he spun his Hilmer Motorsport machine. The Russian was able to restart under his own steam, causing only a two-minute red flag delay, and he eventually finished in 25th position.
