Photo: FIA F3 European Championship
Antonio Giovinazzi set the pace in both Friday practice sessions ahead of qualifying for the second round of the FIA F3 European Championship at Hockenheim.
The Italian driver set a time of 1m34.019s during the first of the two 40-minute sessions in his Jagonya Ayam with Carlin entry, before lowering his benchmark to a 1m33.135s in the second session.
“It was a very good session for me and the car felt perfect out on track so I?m really pleased with our efforts,” said Giovinazzi, who managed a best result of fifth from the opening round of the season at Silverstone.
“We know we can do well in qualifying and we hope for three good races this weekend. Overall, I?d say that everything worked well and we head to qualifying in the best possible way.”
Championship-leading rookie Esteban Ocon was second to Giovinazzi in practice one for Prema, with Giovinazzi’s team-mate Tom Blomqvist in third.
Felix Rosenqvist took fourth, and Mucke Motorsport continued to show improvement from their disastrous Silverstone appearance in session two with Lucas Auer going second quickest to Giovinazzi, two tenths adrift.
Van Amersfoort Racing star Max Verstappen was third, while Ocon and Blomqvist were again inseparable in fourth and fifth respectively. Rosenqvist was sixth ahead of Silverstone race three winner?Antonio Fuoco and his Prema team-mate Nicholas Latifi. Carlin pairing Jordan King and Ed Jones completed the top ten.
The grid size has increased by one to 27 this weekend, with Jo Zeller Racing now running two cars for Tatiana Calderon and Sandro Zeller after the Colombian had taken Zeller Jr’s seat at short notice at Silverstone following her departure from the stillborn Signature-Renault project.
Session results
| Pos | Driver? | Team | Session 1 | Session 2 |
| 1 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:34.019 | 1:33.135 |
| 2 | Lucas Auer | Mucke Motorsport | 1:34.438 | 1:33.337 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:34.807 | 1:33.352 |
| 4 | Esteban Ocon | Prema Powerteam | 1:34.064 | 1:33.510 |
| 5 | Tom Blomqvist | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:34.166 | 1:33.599 |
| 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mucke Motorsport | 1:34.270 | 1:33.654 |
| 7 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Powerteam | 1:34.386 | 1:33.686 |
| 8 | Nicholas Latifi | Prema Powerteam | 1:34.981 | 1:33.728 |
| 9 | Jordan King | Carlin | 1:34.687 | 1:33.747 |
| 10 | Edward Jones | Carlin | 1:34.804 | 1:33.752 |
| 11 | John Bryant-Meisner | Fortec Motorsports | 1:34.414 | 1:33.948 |
| 12 | Jake Dennis | Carlin | 1:34.916 | 1:33.963 |
| 13 | Sean Gelael | Jagonya Ayam with Carlin | 1:34.706 | 1:34.106 |
| 14 | Riccardo Agostini | EuroInternational | 1:34.847 | 1:34.177 |
| 15 | Dennis van de Laar | Prema Powerteam | 1:35.076 | 1:34.221 |
| 16 | Felipe Guimaraes | Double R Racing | 1:34.590 | 1:34.223 |
| 17 | Tatiana Calderon | Jo Zeller Racing | 1:35.154 | 1:34.248 |
| 18 | Gustavo Menezes | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:34.947 | 1:34.345 |
| 19 | Mitchell Gilbert | Fortec Motorsports | 1:34.472 | 1:34.401 |
| 20 | Alexander Toril | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1:35.684 | 1:34.413 |
| 21 | Felix Serralles | Team West-Tec | 1:34.916 | 1:34.446 |
| 22 | Richard Goddard | ThreeBond with T-Sport | 1:35.408 | 1:34.514 |
| 23 | Jules Szymkowiak | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:35.360 | 1:34.527 |
| 24 | Michele Beretta | EuroInternational | 1:35.818 | 1:34.819 |
| 25 | Roy Nissany | Mucke Motorsport | 1:36.200 | 1:34.864 |
| 26 | Hector Hurst | Team West-Tec | 1:36.519 | 1:35.083 |
| 27 | Sandro Zeller | Jo Zeller Racing | 1:35.741 | 1:35.427 |
Personal best time in?bold
Best time of session in?italics