PRACTICE: Victor Martins sets the pace in stop-start Melbourne opener

Victor Martins made a strong start to the 2025 season, as the ART Grand Prix driver laid down the fastest time of the opening practice session of the year in Melbourne.

In a session dominated by Red Flags, Martins set the pace for most of the morning, before recording a 1:32.587 on his final attempt to seal top spot, over a tenth ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil’s Kush Maini.

Richard Verschoor though, was the early pacesetter. The MP Motorsport driver’s 1:33.530 put him at the top of the timesheets ahead of DAMS’ Jak Crawford by a tenth.

As the drivers got into their work, there was an early Red Flag. Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne was stuck in the gravel at the exit of Turn 11 after colliding with the barrier.

There was 25 minutes remaining on the clock when the lights went green, the drivers wasted no time getting back to work and Martins the next to go fastest.

The ART driver completed a 1:32.687 to put him up to P1, just 0.049s ahead of Kush Maini in second place. However, the session was quickly Red Flagged again when MP’s Oliver Goethe stopped on track, having spun through the gravel at Turn 10.

Running resumed with just under seven minutes left in Practice. Martins improved out front to a 1:32.587, while AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen moved up to third before the session was stopped once more.

There were two incidents on this occasion, Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad collided into the barrier at Turn 10, while Amaury Cordeel spun into the gravel ahead of Turn 13.

With less than two minutes to go, the session could not be restarted, meaning that Martins ended up on top ahead of Maini and Duerksen.

Roman Stanek was fourth for Invicta Racing ahead of Crawford and the Hitech TGR pair of Luke Browning and Dino Bganovic. Max Esterson was eighth for TRIDENT, in front of PREMA Racing’s Sebastián Montoya, with Verschoor in P10.

The drivers will return to the Albert Park Circuit at 17:30 local time for Qualifying.