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GP3 Barcelona: Honda junior Nirei Fukuzumi tops free practice

Nirei Fukuzumi topped the practice session for the first round of the 2017 GP3 season, which is taking place at Barcelona this weekend

Fukuzumi - a Honda Formula 1 junior driver - set a best time of 1m35.933s and led an ART Grand Prix 1-2-3-4 for much of practice.

But Jenzer Motorsport's Arjun Maini, who this week joined the Haas F1 team in a development role, improved in the closing stages of the 45-minute session to go second, 0.3s slower than Fukuzumi.

Marcos Siebert, who beat Mick Schumacher to the 2016 Italian Formula 4 title, slotted into third place on his first appearance in a GP3 race weekend.

Arden's Leonardo Pulcini was another driver to move up the order late on and he finished fourth ahead of Mercedes F1 junior George Russell and his ART team-mate Jack Aitken - a Renault F1 Academy driver.

Fukuzumi led ART's charge to the top of the timesheets early in the session and he stayed clear despite the late improvements from Maini, Siebert and Pulcini.

Niko Kari ended up seventh for Arden, ahead of Ryan Tveter, Steijn Schothorst and Raoul Hyman, who rounded out the top 10 for Campos Racing.

Santino Ferrucci was 11th, just in front of Anthoine Hubert and Kevin Joerg.

Giuliano Alesi - son of former F1 race winner Jean - needed a push from his Trident mechanics in the pitlane as he rejoined the action shortly after halfway through the session on his way to 15th.

Sauber F1 development driver Tatiana Calderon finished 18th for DAMS.

FREE PRACTICE TIMES

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Nirei Fukuzumi ART Grand Prix 1m35.933s - 17
2 Arjun Maini Jenzer Motorsport 1m36.286s 0.353s 20
3 Marcos Siebert Campos Racing 1m36.293s 0.360s 18
4 Leonardo Pulcini Arden International 1m36.352s 0.419s 17
5 George Russell ART Grand Prix 1m36.382s 0.449s 17
6 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 1m36.386s 0.453s 17
7 Niko Kari Arden International 1m36.431s 0.498s 17
8 Ryan Tveter Trident 1m36.441s 0.508s 14
9 Steijn Schothorst Arden International 1m36.455s 0.522s 17
10 Raoul Hyman Campos Racing 1m36.517s 0.584s 21
11 Santino Ferrucci DAMS 1m36.521s 0.588s 18
12 Anthoine Hubert ART Grand Prix 1m36.619s 0.686s 18
13 Kevin Jorg Trident 1m36.669s 0.736s 16
14 Bruno Baptista DAMS 1m37.047s 1.114s 17
15 Giuliano Alesi Trident 1m37.254s 1.321s 14
16 Dorian Boccolacci Trident 1m37.488s 1.555s 18
17 Julien Falchero Campos Racing 1m37.570s 1.637s 20
18 Tatiana Calderon DAMS 1m37.606s 1.673s 19
19 Alessio Lorandi Jenzer Motorsport 1m38.227s 2.294s 16


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