Morad tops wet practice at Hockenheim

The Status GP driver set his best time of 1:44.682 in the final minute of the session, which up until that point had been impossible to predict. Although the rain held off, it was a damp start to the first session for the GP3 series in Germany testing the 30 young drivers to the maximum.

Daniel Morad, (CAN, Status Grand Prix). Credit: Drew Gibson/LAT Photographic

It was Manor Racing's Adrian Quaife-Hobbs who showed the early pace at the start of the 30 minute session along with Series leader Esteban Gutiérrez, with previous race winner Pål Varhaug also at the top of the times sheets. But once the field had found their feet in the drying conditions the times started to drop and the fight for the top spot begun.

Carlin's Dean Smith spun his car at the mid way point resulting in a damaged rear wing and retiring him from the session early. Meanwhile Tech 1 Racing's Stefano Coletti was struggling with the conditions and ended up with a black and white flag after spending too much time off track. It was Coletti who caused the only drama of the session when he lost his damper cover out on track. A red flag ensued and the rest of the field took the opportunity to pit for new tyres.

After the session restarted it was anyone's to take with the top ten spots changing continually. It looked like James Jakes would take the spoils but despite his best efforts the Manor driver was pipped to the post by Morad. Atech CRS GP driver Oliver Oakes did enough to claim third spot ahead of his fellow countryman Quaife-Hobbs. Oakes. teammate Roberto Merhi ended the session in sixth ahead of RSC Mucke drivers Nigel Melker and Tobias Hegewald. MW Arden's Leonardo Cordeiro, Tech 1 Racing's Doru Sechelariu and Status GP's Daniel Wickens rounded out the top ten. Points leader Gutiérrez finished the session down in eighteenth.

The action continues tomorrow at 08:45 local time with qualifying for Race 1.

Full practice results: 
 
Pos No  Driver            Team                   Time     Laps Gap

1    6  D. MORAD          Status Grand Prix      1:44.682  14
2    7  J. JAKES          Manor Racing           1:44.702  13  0.020
3   30  O. OAKES          Atech CRS GP           1:44.773  15  0.091
4    9  A. QUAIFE-HOBBS   Manor Racing           1:44.908  15  0.226
5   29  R. MERHI          Atech CRS GP           1:45.094  14  0.412
6   10  N. MELKER         RSC Muecke Motorsport  1:45.205  13  0.523
7   12  T. HEGEWALD       RSC Muecke Motorsport  1:45.232  13  0.550
8   22  L. CORDEIRO       MW Arden               1:45.420  14  0.738
9   26  D. SECHELARIU     Tech 1 Racing          1:45.499  15  0.817
10   4  R. WICKENS        Status Grand Prix      1:45.667  14  0.985
11  17  F. GUIMARAES      Addax Team             1:45.812  13  1.130
12  27  S. COLETTI        Tech 1 Racing          1:45.839  13  1.157
13  28  D. JUNCADELLA     Tech 1 Racing          1:45.849  14  1.167
14  24  S. TRUMMER        Jenzer Motorsport      1:45.909  13  1.227
15  16  L. FORESTI        Carlin                 1:45.988  14  1.306
16   1  A. ROSSI          ART Grand Prix         1:46.056  14  1.374
17  19  M. BORTOLOTTI     Addax Team             1:46.103  15  1.421
18   2  E. GUTIERREZ      ART Grand Prix         1:46.112  14  1.430
19   5  I. LUKASHEVICH    Status Grand Prix      1:46.153  14  1.471
20  21  M. MONRAS         MW Arden               1:46.487  13  1.805
21   3  P. NUNES          ART Grand Prix         1:46.704  13  2.022
22  25  N. MULLER         Jenzer Motorsport      1:46.824  15  2.142
23  11  R. VAN DER ZANDE  RSC Muecke Motorsport  1:46.934  13  2.252
24  23  P. VARHAUG        Jenzer Motorsport      1:47.158  14  2.476
25  14  J. NEWGARDEN      Carlin                 1:47.205  14  2.523
26  31  V. GHIRELLI       Atech CRS GP           1:47.349  13  2.667
27  20  M. CHRISTENSEN    MW Arden               1:47.431  14  2.749
28   8  R. HARYANTO       Manor Racing           1:48.800  12  4.118
29  18  P. SANCHEZ LOPEZ  Addax Team             1:48.960   8  4.278
30  15  D. SMITH          Carlin                 1:51.232   5  6.550

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