PRACTICE: Maini and ART Grand Prix quickest in opening Baku session

Kush Maini was on the pace throughout the opening session of Round 12, topping Practice in Baku for ART Grand Prix.

The Indian driver led early on but found an improvement on his final lap to go quickest of all with a 1:56.532 to set the pace ahead of title contenders Alexander Dunne and Nikola Tsolov.

Maini led as the drivers got to grips with a relatively green track, 2:02.639 the time to beat from the ART talent.

The Virtual Safety Car was out with 15 minutes elapsed after Joshua Duerksen found the runoff area at Turn 3. Oliver Goethe also ran deep further round the lap at Turn 5, with both left on the sidelines unable to rejoin the circuit.

Back to green and Maini improved his time to a 2:00.442 to extend his advantage out in front.

Martinius Stenshorne briefly took over the lead before Maini once again found time, recording a 1:58.102 to go back to P1. Championship leader Tsolov went to P2 with 20 minutes to go, 0.3s down on the ART driver’s lap.

Stenshorne and then Rodin Motorsport teammate Dunne went to the top, the Irishman heading the pack on a 1:57.478. Title rival Rafael Câmara filtered through in third, half a second back before Maini pipped the Brazilian by a few tenths to go third himself.

The track continued to improve and Dunne lowered his personal best to a 1:57.044. Maini and Câmara went to second and third respectively, two-tenths back from the Rodin driver.

Into the final six minutes of the session and the timing screens lit up once more, with several drivers back out on track and finding laptime.

Gabriele Minì went quickest but only for a few seconds before Dunne restored himself to P1, logging a 1:56.810.

Dunne continued to find time in the closing minutes, lowering his benchmark by a few hundredths to a 1:56.736.

Maini found one final lap good enough for top spot though, going onto a 1:56.532 to end the session where he started in P1.

Dunne was second, 0.2s back ahead of two late improvers in Tsolov and Colton Herta, as Minì completed the top five.

Câmara, Laurens van Hoepen, Stenshorne, Ritomo Miyata and Mari Boya completed the top 10.

Up next, the FIA Formula 2 grid prepares for the Qualifying double-header later on Thursday. The first session gets underway at 14:00 local time and will set the grid for the Sprint and Feature Race 1. The second gets going at 14:30 and will sort the grid for Feature Race 2.