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Nico Muller tops opening GP3 practice session at Monza

Nico Muller upstaged the GP3 championship contenders to top the first free practice session of the weekend at Monza

Five drivers have a mathematical shot at the title this weekend, although realistically the showdown is between ART team-mates Valtteri Bottas and James Calado.

But nobody could do anything about Muller (Jenzer) once the Swiss driver moved to the top with six minutes remaining in practice, and went quicker still with his next flying lap.

Title outsider Adrian Quaife-Hobbs (Manor) was a factor throughout the 30 minutes, and he engaged in a scrap for second with points leader Bottas during the last five minutes.

In the end the ART driver could not respond to the Briton's pace, but more importantly for Bottas he was just ahead of Calado.

Bottas's session was not without incident though, as he took a hard hit over the kerbs at the first chicane which sent his car into the air. Rookie team-mate Richie Stanaway did the same a lap later, but at higher speed.

Behind the top two in the standings, Tech 1's Aaro Vainio put in an impressive penultimate lap to gatecrash the top five just ahead of MW Arden driver Lewis Williamson.

Of the other two drivers in mathematical title contention, Alexander Sims (Status) was 16th and Mucke's Nigel Melker, who is the closest challenger to the ART pairing at the top, was only 18th.

Pos  Driver                  Team       Time       Gap
 1.  Nico Muller             Jenzer     1m43.961s
 2.  Adrian Quaife-Hobbs     Manor      1m44.127s  + 0.166s
 3.  Valtteri Bottas         ART        1m44.341s  + 0.380s
 4.  James Calado            ART        1m44.421s  + 0.460s
 5.  Aaro Vainio             Tech 1     1m44.424s  + 0.463s
 6.  Lewis Williamson        MW Arden   1m44.518s  + 0.557s
 7.  Marlon Stockinger       Atech CRS  1m44.568s  + 0.607s
 8.  Mitch Evans             MW Arden   1m44.634s  + 0.673s
 9.  Tom Dillmann            Addax      1m44.714s  + 0.753s
10.  Michael Christensen     RSC Mucke  1m44.715s  + 0.754s
11.  Antonio Felix da Costa  Status     1m44.742s  + 0.781s
12.  Simon Trummer           MW Arden   1m44.778s  + 0.817s
13.  Richie Stanaway         ART        1m44.930s  + 0.969s
14.  Gabby Chaves            Addax      1m44.963s  + 1.002s
15.  Conor Daly              Carlin     1m44.999s  + 1.038s
16.  Alexander Sims          Status     1m45.020s  + 1.059s
17.  Rio Haryanto            Manor      1m45.100s  + 1.139s
18.  Nigel Melker            RSC Mucke  1m45.185s  + 1.224s
19.  Ivan Lukashevich        Status     1m45.238s  + 1.277s
20.  Thomas Hylkema          Tech 1     1m45.274s  + 1.313s
21.  Callum Macleod          Carlin     1m45.275s  + 1.314s
22.  Maxim Zimin             Jenzer     1m45.400s  + 1.439s
23.  Mattias Laine           Manor      1m45.429s  + 1.468s
24.  Tamas Pal Kiss          Tech 1     1m45.570s  + 1.609s
25.  Zoel Amberg             Atech CRS  1m45.600s  + 1.639s
26.  Vittorio Ghirelli       Addax      1m45.730s  + 1.769s
27.  Nick Yelloly            Atech CRS  1m45.864s  + 1.903s
28.  Leonardo Cordeiro       Carlin     1m46.126s  + 2.165s
29.  Daniel Mancinelli       RSC Mucke  1m47.390s  + 3.429s
30.  Christophe Hurni        Jenzer     1m47.398s  + 3.437s

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