GP3: Zamparelli tops interrupted practice

Dino Zamparelli led an ART team 1-2-3 in a rain-hit GP3 Series practice at Spa-Francorchamps, a session interrupted by a spectacular crash for rookie Konstantin Tereshchenko.

The 21-year-old Briton hit the front early on with a time of 2m07.021s, which demoted erstwhile pacesetter Alex Lynn, before the championship leader was then pushed further down the order by Zamparelli's teammates.

Marvin Kirchhofer was the second fastest ART man ahead of Alex Fontana with just 0.371 seconds covering the leading trio.

With light rain descending beginning to fall 15 minutes into the session, mostly within the first sector between Eau Rouge and Les Combes, further gains were not made by anyone in the field. Lynn therefore maintained his fourth position, with Carlin teammate Emil Bernstorff fifth and Matheo Tuscher just over a second off the ultimate pace set by Zamparelli.

While nobody made improvements during the final two-thirds of the session, it was not without its moments, with GP3 debutant Tereshchenko crashing in spectacular style. The 20-year-old Russian went over the curb at the final chicane after losing control under braking, sending his Trident car airborne, into a roll and then colliding with the barriers, before catching fire. He was able to vacate the vehicle unharmed and returned to the pits unaided.

Once the session resumed after the red flag period, with less than seven minutes on the clock, the rain became heavier and it was not long before another incident occurred. This time Marussia driver Ryan Cullen came a cropper, although this time at the top of Eau Rouge. He lost control of his car and made slight contact with the barrier, but it was enough to curtail the session with two minutes still left to run.