PRACTICE: Herta opens Miami weekend on top for Hitech

Colton Herta got his home weekend in Miami off to the perfect start, topping Free Practice for Hitech on a 1:40.320.

Kush Maini followed in second for ART Grand Prix ahead of TRIDENT’s Laurens van Hoepen.

Installation laps were interrupted early on after a spin for Noel León at Turn 7 brought out the Virtual Safety Car, with his Campos Racing car needing to be recovered.

The return to green flag conditions didn’t last long as teammate and Championship leader Nikola Tsolov also stopped on track, bringing out the Red Flags.

Running resumed with 25 minutes to go and everyone was eager to get out on track to maximise the remaining time.

Van Hoepen had led the way initially, but Alexander Dunne delivered a 1:40:999 to go fastest for Rodin Motorsport with more laps on the board.

Gabriele Minì usurped his Alpine Academy stablemate, going quickest briefly before a flurry of further improvements put van Hoepen back on top with a 1:40.480.

Maini then put ART P1 on the leaderboard with a 1:40.336, 0.144s ahead of the TRIDENT driver in second with a little over 10 minutes remaining.

Herta then moved himself into the top three, just a fraction slower than van Hoepen, but then went quickest of all in the final two minutes on a 1:40.320.

Nobody could find a better effort, and a yellow flag late on for van Hoepen, who went off the track at Turn 8 prevented any more changes in the order.

Dino Beganovic was fourth for DAMS Lucas Oil ahead of Oliver Goethe in P5, Joshua Duerksen in sixth and Dunne in seventh. Rafael Villagómez, Ritomo Miyata and Minì completed the top 10.

The Miami Qualifying session is scheduled to get underway later on Friday at 14:30 local time.