By alley - May 15, 2015, 7:31 AM ET

Rookie Lorandi tops Pau F3 practice

Rookie Alessio Lorandi set the fastest time in free practice for the Pau Grand Prix round of the Formula 3 European Championship. The 16-year-old Italian, run by Van Amersfoort Racing, drove flamboyantly from the start in wet conditions, and set the quickest lap during a small window when the track briefly began drying out at the start of his group's second session.

It was a good recovery from an ignominious end to his first session - Lorandi finished that one in third place behind Jake Dennis and Gustavo Menezes, but hit the barriers at the small chicane just before the end of the lap after the checkered flag.

Sporting a gashed finger, Lorandi – on only his third race weekend in cars – said: "It was really good but I think I could have been a couple of tenths better, although it was good to get my confidence back.

"This is a really hard track and I never even did a street circuit in karting, although I worked a lot in the simulator to learn it."

Lorandi was 1.1 seconds clear of Markus Pommer (Motopark) when the second session was red-flagged with six minutes remaining after Menezes had a very big accident at the Gare corner after the start-finish straight. The American was sent to the medical center where he was given a clean bill of health, but it will take a lot of work for the Carlin mechanics to prepare his wrecked machine.

Dennis ended up third in that group in his Prema Powerteam car, from Menezes and Fortec Motorsport driver Pietro Fittipaldi.

Another VAR racer, Arjun Maini, topped the odd numbers from teammate Charles Leclerc as the track started to become less wet towards the finish.

Carlin-run championship leader Antonio Giovinazzi was close at hand in third, followed by Alex Albon (Signature) and 2014 Pau GP winner Felix Rosenqvist in his Prema car.

Leclerc had looked in a class of his own in the earlier, wetter session, which he headed by over a second from Maini and Santino Ferrucci.

This period was stopped with a couple of minutes remaining when Mahaveer Raghunathan crashed at the Poeymirau right-hander, and the damage too heavy for the Indian to take part in second practice.

Others to hit the barriers were Red Bull junior Callum Ilott (at the beginning of his first session and the end of his second), Nicolas Pohler, F3 debutant Gustav Malja and Sergio Sette Camara.

Meanwhile, Peter Li is not racing his Fortec car this weekend as he has been called back home to China to attend to family business as his father is ill.

PRACTICE ONE TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap	Laps
1	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m23.913s	10
2	Arjun Maini	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.965s	10
3	Santino Ferrucci	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1.485s	9
4	Alexander Albon	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1.614s	9
5	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.663s	9
6	Felix Rosenqvist	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.918s	7
7	Antonio Giovinazzi	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.430s	8
8	Mikkel Jensen	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	2.910s	9
9	Fabian Schiller	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	3.160s	9
10	Julio Moreno	ThreeBond with T-Sport	Dallara/NBE	3.320s	9
11	Tatiana Calderon	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	3.350s	9
12	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	3.723s	9
13	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	3.764s	9
14	Matthew Solomon	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	4.376s	9
15	Kang Ling	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	4.551s	9
16	Gustav Malja	EuroInternational	Dallara/Mercedes	4.788s	9
17	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	5.352s	8

PRACTICE TWO TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap	Laps
1	Jake Dennis	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1m23.450s	10
2	Gustavo Menezes	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.294s	12
3	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.363s	13
4	Maximilian Gunther	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	0.442s	12
5	Ryan Tveter	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.572s	12
6	George Russell	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.709s	12
7	Markus Pommer	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.814s	11
8	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1.028s	13
9	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	1.059s	12
10	Michele Beretta	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1.262s	12
11	Nabil Jeffri	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1.554s	12
12	Brandon Maisano	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.558s	11
13	Sam MacLeod	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1.996s	12
14	Raoul Hyman	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	2.248s	12
15	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	2.834s	12
16	Nicolas Pohler	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	6.039s	5
17	Callum Ilott	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	3m34.605s	2

PRACTICE THREE TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap	Laps
1	Arjun Maini	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m19.736s	14
2	Charles Leclerc	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.246s	14
3	Antonio Giovinazzi	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.432s	13
4	Alexander Albon	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	0.863s	13
5	Felix Rosenqvist	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.057s	13
6	Santino Ferrucci	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1.295s	13
7	Lance Stroll	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.413s	12
8	Mikkel Jensen	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1.510s	13
9	Tatiana Calderon	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.005s	13
10	Martin Cao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	2.175s	13
11	Matthew Solomon	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	2.278s	13
12	Kang Ling	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	2.329s	13
13	Julio Moreno	ThreeBond with T-Sport	Dallara/NBE	3.313s	13
14	Fabian Schiller	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	3.927s	11
15	Gustav Malja	EuroInternational	Dallara/Mercedes	5.311s	4
16	Sergio Sette Camara	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	-	1
17	Mahaveer Raghunathan	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	-	0

PRACTICE FOUR TIMES:

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Gap	Laps
1	Alessio Lorandi	Van Amersfoort Racing	Dallara/Volkswagen	1m19.353s	8
2	Markus Pommer	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	1.106s	7
3	Jake Dennis	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.184s	5
4	Gustavo Menezes	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	1.191s	8
5	Pietro Fittipaldi	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	1.277s	8
6	Brandon Maisano	Prema Powerteam	Dallara/Mercedes	1.424s	8
7	Raoul Hyman	Team West-Tec F3	Dallara/Mercedes	1.629s	8
8	Michele Beretta	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1.735s	8
9	Maximilian Gunther	KFZTeile24 Mucke Motorsport	Dallara/Mercedes	1.879s	8
10	Dorian Boccolacci	Signature	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.187s	7
11	Ryan Tveter	Jagonya Ayam with Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.213s	6
12	George Russell	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.536s	8
13	Callum Ilott	Carlin	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.719s	8
14	Nabil Jeffri	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	2.806s	8
15	Matt Rao	Fortec Motorsports	Dallara/Mercedes	2.859s	8
16	Sam MacLeod	Motopark	Dallara/Volkswagen	3.228s	8
17	Nicolas Pohler	Double R Racing	Dallara/Mercedes	5.625s	8