Trident’s Ryan Tveter has ended GP3’s Austrian practice session on top of the timesheets on a drying track at the Red Bull Ring as four teams occupied the front four spots.
The American driver set a lap of 1m19.709s, the only competitor to reach under the 1m20s barrier, as times dropped by over seven seconds in 36 of the session’s 45 minutes as circuit conditions improved.
Tveter had a gap of 0.441s to Simo Laaksonen in second place, with the Finnish Campos racer just a tenth ahead of Arden’s Joey Mawson and MP’s Niko Kari.
The final attempt was just 0.006s adrift of the best practice time set with the category’s current Dallara GP3-16 machinery by Marcos Siebert last year.
ART Grand Prix’s France race-winners Anthoine Hubert and Callum Ilott, its Renault-affiliated and Ferrari-backed drivers, were fifth and sixth after previously trading best times in the opening half of time allotted, above Dorian Boccolacci.
Pedro Piquet and Alessio Lorandi looked set to lead a Trident 1-2 in the final quarter as small amounts of rain hit the track, but fell to eighth and ninth due to the late flurry of laps.
Jenzer’s David Beckmann completed the top 10 after dropping from third position late on.
Ferrari Formula 1 academy racer Giuliano Alesi was 13th, one place ahead of series debutant Devlin DeFrancesco, who prioritises GP3 over European F3 for the remainder of 2018 with MP.
Force India tester Nikita Mazepin was 15th, while Sauber test driver Tatiana Calderon was 20th.
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
| 1 | Ryan Tveter | Trident | 1m19.709s | 27 |
| 2 | Simo Laaksonen | Campos | 1m20.150s | 23 |
| 3 | Joey Mawson | Arden | 1m20.263s | 24 |
| 4 | Niko Kari | MP | 1m20.298s | 24 |
| 5 | Anthoine Hubert | ART GP | 1m20.349s | 25 |
| 6 | Callum Ilott | ART GP | 1m20.353s | 26 |
| 7 | Dorian Boccolacci | MP | 1m20.398s | 22 |
| 8 | Pedro Piquet | Trident | 1m20.419s | 24 |
| 9 | Alessio Lorandi | Trident | 1m20.502s | 26 |
| 10 | David Beckmann | Jenzer | 1m20.525s | 20 |
| 11 | Juan Manuel Correa | Jenzer | 1m20.603s | 24 |
| 12 | Gabriel Aubry | Arden | 1m20.622s | 23 |
| 13 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | 1m20.632s | 24 |
| 14 | Devlin DeFrancesco | MP | 1m20.634s | 22 |
| 15 | Nikita Mazepin | ART GP | 1m20.637s | 23 |
| 16 | Leonardo Pulcini | Campos | 1m20.687s | 22 |
| 17 | Jake Hughes | ART GP | 1m20.869s | 24 |
| 18 | Diego Menchaca | Campos | 1m20.919s | 22 |
| 19 | Julien Falchero | Arden | 1m21.168s | 19 |
| 20 | Tatiana Calderon | Jenzer | 1m21.264s | 22 |
