Martins slides to top spot in wet F3 Imola practice

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins was fastest in FIA Formula 3’s very wet practice at Imola, which was broken up by three red flag periods.

While rain had eased up slightly for the morning session, torrential overnight rain meant the track was already soaked.

Martins who got his fastest lap in early during the 45-minute session to take top spot, heading Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar by 0.034 seconds. Laptimes failed to improve later on in the session, and Trident’s Roman Stanek was eight tenths back in third.

Kaylen Frederick (Hitech), Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing), Franco Colapinto (VAR), Zane Maloney (Trident), Zak O’Sullivan (Carlin), Ido Cohen (Jenzer Motorsport) and FIA F3 returnee Oliver Rasmussen (Trident) rounded out the top 10.

The first red flag came a third of the way into practice, as Cohen was beached at Tamburello. After that, few drivers improved as conditions appeared to worsen. Hitech’s Nazim Azman, who ended up 11th, was one of a very small number to do so.

The second stoppage was caused by multiple cars going off, including Charouz Racing System’s championship returnee David Schumacher who slipped off at Rivazza. He got beached on his first lap back after missing Bahrain.

At around the same time Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti and Prema’s Jak Crawford went off, but Crawford was able to continue.

Just four more minutes of running were completed in the final 20 minutes, as shortly after the action resumed many more cars went off. MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet spun off at the Villeneuve chicane, team-mate Kush Maini aquaplaned at Acque Minerali and Campos’s Hunter Yeany shattered his rear-left suspension after running wide at Variante Alta. Red flags were waved and practice did not restart.

Prema opted to not do much running in the session, with Arthur Leclerc its only driver to set a laptime.

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