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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