Photo: GP3 Media Service
Richie Stanaway showed that he won’t be taking the GP3 title fight lying down as he set the pace in free practice for the penultimate round at Sochi.
Stanaway needs to outscore championship leader Alex Lynn this weekend in order to take the points race down to the final round, and began well by posting the best time of 1m52.876s.
Dean Stoneman appeared to be unaffected by a late change of team to Koiranen for the final two rounds after Marussia Manor withdrew from the trip to Sochi for commercial reasons. The Briton was second quickest, 0.233s down on Stanaway, as he looks to continue the form that took him to wins at Spa and Monza.
Emil Bernstorff led for a large part of the session and ended up third, with the ART duo of Dino Zamparelli and Marvin Kirchhofer separating him and his Carlin team-mate Lynn in sixth.
The third ART driver Alex Fontana was seventh, with the top ten completed by Nick Yelloly, Jimmy Eriksson and Matheo Tuscher.
Stoneman’s former Marussia Manor team-mate Patrick Kujala has joined Trident for this weekend as part of a two-car entry from the Italian squad alongside Mitch Gilbert, and the pair were 13th and 20th respectively.
One other change for this weekend sees Nikolay Martsenko return to Hilmer for the first time since Barcelona, replacing Sebastian Balthasar for his home round. Martsenko was last of the 23 entries in practice.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Richie Stanaway | Status Grand Prix | 1:52.876 | 20 | |
| 2 | Dean Stoneman | Koiranen GP | 1:53.109 | 0.233 | 18 |
| 3 | Emil Bernstorff | Carlin | 1:53.184 | 0.308 | 20 |
| 4 | Dino Zamparelli | ART Grand Prix | 1:53.305 | 0.429 | 17 |
| 5 | Marvin Kirchhofer | ART Grand Prix | 1:53.325 | 0.449 | 18 |
| 6 | Alex Lynn | Carlin | 1:53.365 | 0.489 | 20 |
| 7 | Alex Fontana | ART Grand Prix | 1:53.414 | 0.538 | 18 |
| 8 | Nick Yelloly | Status Grand Prix | 1:53.464 | 0.588 | 18 |
| 9 | Jimmy Eriksson | Koiranen GP | 1:53.485 | 0.609 | 17 |
| 10 | Matheo Tuscher | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:53.550 | 0.674 | 20 |
| 11 | Patric Niederhauser | Arden International | 1:53.570 | 0.694 | 20 |
| 12 | Robert Visoiu | Arden International | 1:53.591 | 0.715 | 21 |
| 13 | Patrick Kujala | Trident | 1:53.972 | 1.096 | 18 |
| 14 | Pal Varhaug | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:54.018 | 1.142 | 20 |
| 15 | Jann Mardenborough | Arden International | 1:54.062 | 1.186 | 18 |
| 16 | Kevin Ceccon | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:54.068 | 1.192 | 20 |
| 17 | Nelson Mason | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:54.518 | 1.642 | 20 |
| 18 | Riccardo Agostini | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:54.546 | 1.670 | 19 |
| 19 | Alfonso Celis | Status Grand Prix | 1:54.672 | 1.796 | 20 |
| 20 | Mitch Gilbert | Trident | 1:54.915 | 2.039 | 20 |
| 21 | Luis Sa Silva | Carlin | 1:54.925 | 2.049 | 18 |
| 22 | Santiago Urrutia | Koiranen GP | 1:54.991 | 2.115 | 18 |
| 23 | Nikolay Martsenko | Hilmer Motorsport | 1:55.669 | 2.793 | 20 |