Red Bull Ring F2: Leclerc leads Prema 1-2 in practice

Leclerc, the current championship leader, produced a best time of 1m14.356, which was 0.365-seconds quicker than Fuoco’s fastest lap, and McLaren F1 junior Nyck de Vries completed the top three for Rapax.

Several drivers – including Leclerc – had off-track moments at the short but high-speed circuit, with the Monegasque racer’s off coming as the session entered its final five minutes when he locked his left front and then right front at the downhill right-hander of Turn 4.

Leclerc skated across the gravel trap but was able to stop his car just in front of the barriers before rejoining via an escape road.

Nicholas Latifi finished fourth fastest ahead of his DAMS teammate Oliver Rowland, who enters the weekend second in the points standings.

Sergio Canamasas was sixth quickest in his first appearance for the Rapax squad, and the Spaniard was among the contingent of drivers to lock up heavily under braking for the tight uphill right-hander of Turn 3.

Nobuharu Matsushita finished seventh for ART Grand Prix, just in front of his teammate Alexander Albon, who is making his return to F2 competition after missing the previous round of the season in Baku, having fractured his collarbone in a mountain biking accident.

Ralph Boschung and Luca Ghiotto completed the top 10 for Campos Racing and Russian Time respectively.

Baku sprint race winner Norman Nato was 11th fastest for Arden International ahead of Artem Markelov and Jordan King.

Raffaele Marciello, who is making his return to the F1 support series for the Trident team, finished practice in 17th place.

The session was brought to an early end when Sergio Sette Camara stopped his MP Motorsport car at the entrance to the pit lane, which caused the virtual safety car to be deployed, moments before the heavens opened as the drivers practiced their starting procedures.

Practice results

Pos.	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap
1	1	Charles Leclerc	Prema Powerteam	25	1'14.356
2	2	Antonio Fuoco	Prema Powerteam	23	1'14.721	0.365
3	18	Nyck de Vries	Rapax	24	1'14.730	0.374
4	10	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	27	1'14.822	0.466
5	9	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	25	1'14.865	0.509
6	19	Johnny Cecotto	Rapax	23	1'14.877	0.521
7	7	Nobuharu Matsushita	ART Grand Prix	20	1'14.915	0.559
8	8	Sergey Sirotkin	ART Grand Prix	26	1'14.951	0.595
9	11	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	20	1'15.029	0.673
10	5	Luca Ghiotto	RUSSIAN TIME	23	1'15.031	0.675
11	20	Norman Nato	Arden International	28	1'15.066	0.710
12	6	Artem Markelov	RUSSIAN TIME	24	1'15.081	0.725
13	15	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	26	1'15.099	0.743
14	21	Sean Gelael	Arden International	25	1'15.100	0.744
15	14	Sergio Sette Camara	MP Motorsport	20	1'15.174	0.818
16	3	Louis Deletraz	Racing Engineering	26	1'15.246	0.890
17	4	Gustav Malja	Racing Engineering	24	1'15.480	1.124
18	17	Sergio Canamasas	Trident	25	1'15.488	1.132
19	12	Robert Visoiu	Campos Racing	26	1'15.554	1.198
20	16	Nabil Jeffri	Trident	26	1'15.643	1.287