The TRIDENT driver finished ahead of Tuukka Taponen, who earned P2 for MP Motorsport, while Hiyu Yamakoshi wound up third, although the Van Amersfoort Racing driver was involved in the session-ending Red Flag incident. All drivers were OK, but the session was halted early.
The session began with rain beginning to fall, and drivers were desperate to get their times in early in case the intensity increased. Louis Sharp was at the head of the field and delivered a 2:06:864, but he was bettered immediately by teammate James Wharton.
Pedro Clerot then went to the top until Yamakoshi went quicker still. Taponen beat the Japanese driver by 0.088s to take provisional top spot. But Slater went quickest overall on a 2:05.150, a quarter of a second ahead than the Finn in P2 with everyone's first laptimes on the board. Drivers pushed on immediately for a second attempt as the rain increased, with Fionn McLaughlin informed over team radio that heavy rain was five minutes away.
Noah Stromsted went up to fourth on his second lap ahead of Ernesto Rivera in fifth with 22 minutes to go. Drivers then backed off to prepare another flying lap which kickstarted the battle for track position, with everyone eager for a slipstream and to avoid leading the field from the very front.
Some drivers opted to pit at the end of the lap while those that continued and opened a third attempt found that track conditions had deteriorated enough to prevent any improvements. They all boxed at the end of the lap with 17 minutes left of the session. Cars re-emerged from the pitlane with just under half of the session remaining and with several drivers in search of an improvement. Championship leader Ugo Ugochukwu sat ninth as his closest rival in the Standings retained provisional pole.
There was more battling for track position heading into the final 10 minutes, but this time, several cars made contact. Stromsted collided with Yevan David, who tagged José Garfias, while Yamakoshi was involved also. It caused a Red Flag with 9:38 left on the clock with the TRIDENT, AIX Racing and Van Amersfoort Racing cars needing to be cleared away.
With the rain increasing, the session was not resumed. It left Slater on top ahead of Taponen and Yamakoshi. Stromsted and Rivera were fourth and fifth, followed by MP driver Mattia Colnaghi, Clerot, Brando Badoer, both of Rodin Motorsport and they were followed by Campos duo of Ugochukwu and Théophile Nael. ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato was 11th ahead of compatriot Jin Nakamura in P12.
The FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race is scheduled for 10:00 local time with Nakamura of Hitech set to go from reverse grid pole.
