Home Featured Collet fastest, Doohan comes to a stop in FIA F3 Sochi practice

Collet fastest, Doohan comes to a stop in FIA F3 Sochi practice

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

MP Motorsport’s rookie pairing of Caio Collet and Victor Martins topped the times in free practice for the FIA Formula 3 Championship finale in Sochi.

Collet set his best lap, a 1m54.087s, with five minutes of the session remaining. Although Martins improved on fresh tyres at the end to post a 1m54.170s, he was unable to dislodge his team-mate from the top of the timing screen.

ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti was third fastest with a 1m54.384s, just ahead of Ayumu Iwasa (Hitech GP) and Matteo Nannini (HWA Racelab).

Clement Novalak (Trident) was fastest in sector three on his final lap and rose to sixth place ahead of Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant who was another late improver.

Points leader Dennis Hauger, was only eighth fastest for Prema. However, he was on course to go to the top having set the best splits in the first and second sectors before hitting traffic in the final corners and backing out of his lap.

Title rival Jack Doohan was a further four places down in 12th, 0.192 down on Hauger although he also encountered traffic. His session ended on track as his car came to a halt in sector two.

Cool temperatures and the use of Pirelli’s hard compound tyres for this event resulted in drivers appearing to struggle for grip around the Sochi track. Several drivers had to use the run-off, including Iwasa and ART GP’s Alexander Smolyar at turn 13, while Hauger and Doohan also had moments early on and did well to stay out of the walls.

Free practice results

Pos Name Team Time Gap Laps
1 Caio Collet MP Motorsport 1m54.087s 17
2 Victor Martins MP Motorsport 1m54.170s +0.083s 17
3 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1m54.384s +0.297s 17
4 Ayumu Iwasa Hitech GP 1m54.389s +0.302s 17
5 Matteo Nannini HWA Racelab 1m54.395s +0.308s 17
6 Clement Novalak Trident 1m54.420s +0.333s 19
7 Logan Sargeant Charouz Racing System 1m54.426s +0.339s 18
8 Dennis Hauger Prema 1m54.463s +0.376s 18
9 Oliver Rasmussen HWA Racelab 1m54.508s +0.421s 19
10 Arthur Leclerc Prema 1m54.591s +0.504s 18
11 Jak Crawford Hitech GP 1m54.601s +0.514s 17
12 Jack Doohan Trident 1m54.655s +0.568s 18
13 Roman Stanek Hitech GP 1m54.663s +0.576s 17
14 Alexander Smolyar ART Grand Prix 1m54.683s +0.596s 16
15 Calan Williams Jenzer Motorsport 1m54.693s +0.606s 18
16 Johnathan Hoggard Jenzer Motorsport 1m54.839s +0.752s 17
17 Olli Caldwell Prema 1m54.841s +0.754s 18
18 Juan Manuel Correa ART Grand Prix 1m54.971s +0.884s 17
19 David Schumacher Trident 1m55.007s +0.920s 17
20 Jonny Edgar Carlin 1m55.164s +1.077s 16
21 Lorenzo Colombo Campos Racing 1m55.245s +1.158s 17
22 Tijmen van der Helm MP Motorsport 1m55.433s +1.346s 16
23 Kaylen Frederick Carlin 1m55.682s +1.595s 16
24 Ido Cohen Carlin 1m55.983s +1.896s 17
25 Laszlo Toth Campos Racing 1m56.014s +1.927s 17
26 Amaury Cordeel Campos Racing 1m56.020s +1.933s 17
27 Filip Ugran Jenzer Motorsport 1m56.584s +2.497s 18
28 Rafael Villagomez HWA Racelab 1m56.632s +2.545s 17
29 Ayrton Simmons Charouz Racing System 1m56.681s +2.594s 18
30 Zdenek Chovanec Charouz Racing System 1m57.082s +2.995s 18