Daniel Juncadella tops Norisring free practice as Tincknell heads British Formula 3 contingent

The Spaniard stayed just out of reach of the opposition, who were headed by British series racer Harry Tincknell.

Prema Powerteam driver Juncadella was satisfied with progress on his Dallara-Mercedes at a track where he has not enjoyed good results in his previous two seasons of F3.

"I have my worst weekend here always!" he said. "So I'm not looking to take risks - you can lose a lot more easily than win here...

"In the beginning I struggled a lot with the brakes - I couldn't feel the bite and the pedal was a bit long. Then we improved and tried a few aero configurations, and I think we've found the best solution."

Tincknell, who is mentored by Audi star Allan McNish, was pleased to top the British contingent in his Carlin Dallara-Volkswagen.

"This is a strange track but I got some tips from Allan from his DTM days," he said. "It was a bit of an eventful session. My battery went with 15 minutes to go and I just managed to coast it back. Then we had yellow flags but it was green right at the end and I just managed to put one in."

Like Tincknell, Tom Blomqvist leapt up the order at the end and took third in his Ma-Con Dallara-VW, as Carlin's British points leader Jazeman Jaafar slipped from second to fourth. Jaafar's main title rivals, team-mates Carlos Sainz Jr and Jack Harvey, ended up eighth and 12th respectively. Both were slower than the sister car of Pietro Fantin, who showed improved form to take fifth, plus Euro racers Michael Lewis (Prema) and Pascal Wehrlein (Mucke).

Pipo Derani headed the Fortec Motorsport contingent in 10th, just ahead of Prema's Sven Muller, who caused the late yellow flag when he went off at the last turn.

FIA European F3 Championship leader Raffaele Marciello suffered a loose wheel on new tyres in his Prema car, then rejoined to take ninth.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                 Time     Gap
 1.  Daniel Juncadella     Prema Dallara-Merc       49.897s
 2.  Harry Tincknell       Carlin Dallara-VW        49.958s  + 0.061s
 3.  Tom Blomqvist         Ma-Con Dallara-VW        49.976s  + 0.079s
 4.  Jazeman Jaafar        Carlin Dallara-VW        50.005s  + 0.108s
 5.  Pietro Fantin         Carlin Dallara-VW        50.011s  + 0.114s
 6.  Michael Lewis         Prema Dallara-Merc       50.080s  + 0.183s
 7.  Pascal Wehrlein       Mucke Dallara-Merc       50.093s  + 0.196s
 8.  Carlos Sainz Jr       Carlin Dallara-VW        50.104s  + 0.207s
 9.  Raffaele Marciello    Prema Dallara-Merc       50.115s  + 0.218s
10.  Pipo Derani           Fortec Dallara-Merc      50.129s  + 0.232s
11.  Sven Muller           Prema Dallara-Merc       50.136s  + 0.239s
12.  Jack Harvey           Carlin Dallara-VW        50.206s  + 0.309s
13.  Emil Bernstorff       Ma-Con Dallara-VW        50.210s  + 0.313s
14.  Felix Serralles       Fortec Dallara-Merc      50.227s  + 0.330s
15.  Will Buller           Carlin Dallara-VW        50.273s  + 0.376s
16.  Hannes van Asseldonk  Fortec Dallara-Merc      50.411s  + 0.514s
17.  Alex Lynn             Fortec Dallara-Merc      50.427s  + 0.530s
18.  Nick McBride          T-Sport Dallara-Nissan   50.480s  + 0.583s
19.  Sandro Zeller         Zeller Dallara-Merc      50.518s  + 0.621s
20.  Felix Rosenqvist      Mucke Dallara-Merc       50.601s  + 0.704s
21.  Geoff Uhrhane         Double R Dallara-Merc    50.611s  + 0.714s
22.  Andrea Roda           Zeller Dallara-Merc      50.625s  + 0.728s
23.  Lucas Wolf            URD Dallara-Merc         50.678s  + 0.781s
24.  Luis Sa Silva         Angola Dallara-Merc      50.837s  + 0.940s
25.  Fahmi Ilyas           Double R Dallara-Merc    50.978s  + 1.081s
26.  Philip Ellis          GU Dallara-Merc          51.255s  + 1.358s
27.  Spike Goddard         T-Sport Dallara-Mugen*   51.386s  + 1.489s
28.  Duvashen Padayachee   Double R Dallara-Mugen*  52.530s  + 2.633s