FV83.5 Nurburgring: Pietro Fittipaldi quickest in practice
Formula V8 3.5 championship leader Pietro Fittipaldi and Fortec Motorsport's Diego Menchaca took a top spot apiece in the two Friday practice sessions at the Nurburgring
Lotus driver Fittipaldi, who has a 14-point lead coming into the sixth round of the season, set the fastest time across practice as he led the second session.
He was the only driver to dip below the 1m42s barrier, posting a best of 1m41.930s.
His time, set in much hotter conditions than the first practice session in the morning, was more than 1.5s better than he managed earlier in the day, when he was only good enough for fourth.
In the opening session Menchaca left it until the last lap of his 20-lap run to clock his fastest time of 1m43.296s to put himself a tenth of a second ahead of series debutant Alex Palou.
Japanese Formula 3 frontrunner Palou, a late addition to the small FV83.5 field for this weekend, had a brace of second places in his Teo Martin Motorsport entry.
Fittipaldi's Lotus team-mate Binder was third in FP2, having finish 10th in the first session with a time more than two seconds adrift of Menchaca.
Aragon race winner Egor Orudzhev's form went the other way.
The SMP Racing by AVF driver finished third this morning, less than two-tenths behind first place, but in the afternoon his 1m42.600s was only good enough for seventh.
PRACTICE ONE:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diego Menchaca | Fortec Motorsports | 1m43.296s | 22 |
| 2 | Alex Palou | Teo Martin Motorsport | 0.116s | 20 |
| 3 | Egor Orudzhev | SMP Racing by AVF | 0.189s | 20 |
| 4 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Lotus | 0.215s | 19 |
| 5 | Alfonso Celis | Fortec Motorsports | 0.340s | 20 |
| 6 | Yu Kanamaru | RP Motorsport | 0.387s | 19 |
| 7 | Matevos Isaakyan | SMP Racing by AVF | 1.106s | 18 |
| 8 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Teo Martin Motorsport | 1.298s | 19 |
| 9 | Damiano Fioravanti | RP Motorsport | 1.393s | 17 |
| 10 | Rene Binder | Lotus | 1.664s | 20 |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | RP Motorsport | 2.242s | 12 |
| 12 | Giuseppe Cipriani | Il Barone Rampante | 3.601s | 21 |
PRACTICE TWO:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pietro Fittipaldi | Lotus | 1m41.930s | 20 |
| 2 | Alex Palou | Teo Martin Motorsport | 0.311s | 20 |
| 3 | Rene Binder | Lotus | 0.317s | 19 |
| 4 | Alfonso Celis | Fortec Motorsports | 0.535s | 19 |
| 5 | Diego Menchaca | Fortec Motorsports | 0.608s | 23 |
| 6 | Roy Nissany | RP Motorsport | 0.660s | 17 |
| 7 | Egor Orudzhev | SMP Racing by AVF | 0.670s | 13 |
| 8 | Konstantin Tereschenko | Teo Martin Motorsport | 0.742s | 19 |
| 9 | Matevos Isaakyan | SMP Racing by AVF | 1.009s | 15 |
| 10 | Damiano Fioravanti | RP Motorsport | 1.284s | 19 |
| 11 | Yu Kanamaru | RP Motorsport | 1.323s | 20 |
| 12 | Giuseppe Cipriani | Il Barone Rampante | 2.577s | 17 |
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