Mick Schumacher junior beats Newey

In the opening practice session of the weekend Newey had beaten Schumacher and championship leader Joey Mawson. Mawson currently leads the championship by 27 points over Newey with Schumacher a further 40 points behind. 

Raghul Rangasamy and Sandeep Kumar topping FP1 and FP1 in the MRF 1600 championship. In the opening practice session of the weekend the drivers took their time as they familiarized themselves in one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar. Newey was the first to set a competitive time as he did a 1:33.249. 

Brazilian driver Felipe Drugovich was quick to respond and did a 1:32.398 to go on top. Meanwhile Schumacher continued to make steady progress and jumped to the top of the charts. Newey struck back to do an impressive lap of 1:31.799. Schumacher was close behind with a 1.31.813 with Mawson a further tenth behind. 

Drogovich ended up in 4th place ahead of Australian driver Dylan Young. Behind them was Juri Vips, Daniel Ticktum and Ralf Aron. Free practice 2 saw the top drivers wasting no time in getting up to speed and Newey was one of the front runners to go fastest with a 1:31.883. The three title protagonists traded fastest laps through session with Mawson, Newey and Schumacher all being on top at some point through the session.