European F3 testing: German F4 champion Vips quickest at Misano
Reigning German Formula 4 champion Juri Vips topped the first day of the final pre-season Formula 3 European Championship test at Misano
The Estonian stamped in an impressive time during the second half of the morning two-hour session to head the order in his Motopark Dallara-Volkswagen, beating second-fastest Mick Schumacher by 0.138 seconds.
Alex Palou headed the order in the afternoon in the lead Hitech GP Dallara-Mercedes, leaping to the top of the field in a run that came near the end of the three-and-a-half-hour session.
The Spaniard's afternoon time put him second overall on the day, 0.089s adrift of Vips's morning best.
Up until Palou's effort, Prema Powerteam pair Ralf Aron and Schumacher had headed the afternoon times. Aron's best was just 0.041s behind Palou's and a mere thousandth quicker than Schumacher's, putting them third and fourth overall on the day.
Apart from Vips, the only other driver to fail to improve in the afternoon was his Motopark team-mate and fellow German F4 graduate Jonathan Aberdein. The South African was third in the morning and that time was still good enough for fifth by the end of the day.
Reigning Formula Renault Eurocup champion Sacha Fenestraz came through to lead the Carlin charge - the French Renault F1 protege was fourth in both sessions - finishing the day sixth overall.
Two of Prema's Ferrari juniors ended up seventh and ninth, with Marcus Armstrong and Guan Yu Zhou respectively sandwiching Force India-backed Carlin racer Jehan Daruvala.
Red Bull Junior and McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Dan Ticktum rounded out the top 10 in his Motopark machine, while his fellow Brits Ben Hingeley and Enaam Ahmed were 17th and 20th respectively in their Hitech cars.
Day one morning results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Juri Vips | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1m27.533s |
| 2 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.138s |
| 3 | Jonathan Aberdein | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.152s |
| 4 | Sacha Fenestraz | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.190s |
| 5 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.295s |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.304s |
| 7 | Ralf Aron | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.381s |
| 8 | Marcus Armstrong | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.464s |
| 9 | Alex Palou | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.569s |
| 10 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.617s |
| 11 | Dan Ticktum | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.640s |
| 12 | Guanyu Zhou | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.702s |
| 13 | Artem Petrov | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.793s |
| 14 | Sebastian Fernandez | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.849s |
| 15 | Ben Hingeley | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.887s |
| 16 | Fabio Scherer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.913s |
| 17 | Nikita Troitskiy | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.948s |
| 18 | Marino Sato | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.021s |
| 19 | Devlin Defrancesco | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.139s |
| 20 | Ameya Vaidyanathan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.190s |
| 21 | Enaam Ahmed | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.303s |
| 22 | Sophia Florsch | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.762s |
| 23 | Julian Hanses | ma-con | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.810s |
| 24 | Keyvan Andres | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 2.311s |
Day one afternoon results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Palou | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 1m27.622s |
| 2 | Ralf Aron | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.041s |
| 3 | Mick Schumacher | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.042s |
| 4 | Sacha Fenestraz | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.078s |
| 5 | Juri Vips | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.086s |
| 6 | Marcus Armstrong | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.115s |
| 7 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.147s |
| 8 | Guanyu Zhou | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.160s |
| 9 | Dan Ticktum | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.163s |
| 10 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Theodore Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.166s |
| 11 | Jonathan Aberdein | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.194s |
| 12 | Sebastian Fernandez | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.202s |
| 13 | Artem Petrov | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.281s |
| 14 | Marino Sato | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.287s |
| 15 | Fabio Scherer | Motopark | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.398s |
| 16 | Ferdinand Habsburg | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.454s |
| 17 | Ben Hingeley | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.466s |
| 18 | Nikita Troitskiy | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.540s |
| 19 | Devlin Defrancesco | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.614s |
| 20 | Enaam Ahmed | Hitech Grand Prix | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.836s |
| 21 | Sophia Florsch | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 0.881s |
| 22 | Ameya Vaidyanathan | Carlin | Dallara/Volkswagen | 0.953s |
| 23 | Julian Hanses | ma-con | Dallara/Volkswagen | 1.076s |
| 24 | Keyvan Andres | Van Amersfoort Racing | Dallara/Mercedes | 1.167s |
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