Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP3 Series Media Service
Esteban Ocon set the fastest time in a wet GP3 practice session that was run into near darkness at Sochi.
A red flag was triggered with 15 minutes left when Alex Fontana crashed heavily and the session was restarted with six minutes remaining despite the worsening conditions.
Ocon had gone to the top of the times just before the stoppage and his 2m09.319s remained as the best of the session.
He demoted Ralph Boschung to second, after the Swiss driver had earlier moved ahead of ART’s pairing of Marvin Kirchhofer and Ocon to sit atop the times.
Kevin Ceccon ended up fourth ahead of fellow Italian and championship leader Luca Ghiotto, who has 14 points in hand over Ocon.
Alex Palou was sixth in front of Jimmy Eriksson, Spa and Monza winner Emil Bernstorff and Fontana’s Status team-mates Sandy Stuvik and Seb Morris.
Session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Esteban Ocon | ART Grand Prix | 2:09.319 | 13 | |
| 2 | Ralph Boschung | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:09.526 | 0.207 | 14 |
| 3 | Marvin Kirchhofer | ART Grand Prix | 2:09.583 | 0.264 | 13 |
| 4 | Kevin Ceccon | Arden International | 2:09.723 | 0.404 | 14 |
| 5 | Luca Ghiotto | Trident | 2:09.787 | 0.468 | 14 |
| 6 | Alex Palou | Campos Racing | 2:09.878 | 0.559 | 15 |
| 7 | Jimmy Eriksson | Koiranen GP | 2:10.030 | 0.711 | 15 |
| 8 | Emil Bernstorff | Arden International | 2:10.089 | 0.770 | 14 |
| 9 | Sandy Stuvik | Status Grand Prix | 2:10.200 | 0.881 | 13 |
| 10 | Seb Morris | Status Grand Prix | 2:10.404 | 1.085 | 10 |
| 11 | Alfonso Celis | ART Grand Prix | 2:10.407 | 1.088 | 12 |
| 12 | Alex Fontana | Status Grand Prix | 2:10.617 | 1.298 | 10 |
| 13 | Matt Parry | Koiranen GP | 2:10.786 | 1.467 | 12 |
| 14 | Matheo Tuscher | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:10.793 | 1.474 | 13 |
| 15 | Zaid Ashkanani | Campos Racing | 2:10.858 | 1.539 | 14 |
| 16 | Pal Varhaug | Jenzer Motorsport | 2:10.990 | 1.671 | 15 |
| 17 | Artur Janosz | Trident | 2:11.109 | 1.790 | 14 |
| 18 | Jann Mardenborough | Carlin | 2:11.206 | 1.887 | 11 |
| 19 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Campos Racing | 2:11.480 | 2.161 | 15 |
| 20 | Michele Beretta | Trident | 2:11.619 | 2.300 | 15 |
| 21 | Adderly Fong | Koiranen GP | 2:12.764 | 3.445 | 14 |
| 22 | Antonio Fuoco | Carlin | 2:12.871 | 3.552 | 14 |
| 23 | Mitch Gilbert | Carlin | 2:12.881 | 3.562 | 12 |
| 24 | Alex Bosak | Arden International | 2:13.792 | 4.473 | 14 |