Hubert tops Free Practice in Sochi

Anthoine Hubert

Anthoine Hubert drew first blood at the GP3 Series round at the Sochi Autodrom, Russia, clocking in a 1:53.146 at the checkered flag to head the Free Practice session. Hubert headed an all-ART Grand Prix top three, as Jake Hughes claimed the second-fastest time ahead of Nikita Mazepin – who was third quickest at his home event.

Hughes was first out on the road at the beginning of the session, setting the opening laptime of the session which fell in the 1m57s – and was immediately beaten by a number of cars as Mazepin set the early pace. The Russian then went a full second quicker than anyone else, entering the one-minute-fifty-fives where he was joined by Trident’s David Beckmann shortly after.

There was plenty of change in the order in the first fifteen minutes while Mazepin’s time stood strong, surviving a barrage of times before the second half of the session. Beckmann then dipped under the home favorite’s benchmark, but his time then fell from grace when Ilott punched in a marginally quicker lap. The Brit was next to lose his place from the top of the timesheets, as Hubert dispatched his teammate by just half a tenth.

The top berth in the rankings continued to change hands, and Arden International’s Joey Mawson made his play for the fastest time – albeit momentarily as Beckmann found six tenths over the Australian ahead of the final ten minutes of the session. However, there was plenty more time left on the table, and Mazepin took full advantage with the first lap in the 1m53s. Hughes then shaved 0.037s off of his ART stablemate, before Hubert re-emerged at the top with just three minutes left.

Looking to put first place beyond all reasonable doubt, the Frenchman found an extra two tenths to settle the session with a 1:53.146. Hughes and Mazepin beat Giuliano Alesi (Trident) to the top three, who was followed by teammates Pedro Piquet and Ryan Tveter. Tatiana Calderon (Jenzer Motorsport) was seventh, with Campos Racing’s Leonardo Pulcini in eighth. Mawson and Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) completed the top ten.

Free Practice Classification