Kari narrowly edges out Shwartzman in practice

Niko Kari ended the practice session from the Circuit Paul Ricard on top of the timesheets, as the second round of the 2019 FIA Formula 3 championship got underway. 

Kari set a 1:51.305 in the final moments of the session to jump to the top spot, as a number of drivers improved their times in the last handful of minutes of the session.

The start of the session was delayed by 20 minutes, however, the drivers wasted no time in getting up to speed with the circuit ahead of qualifying, which takes place later today.

Robert Shwartzman, who currently leads the championship standings, was second fastest, less than half a tenth behind Kari.

Kari's session didn't end smoothly, as mechanical issues saw him come to a halt on his final lap.

Third was Leonardo Pulcini, who will be looking to pick up his first points of the season this weekend. The Italian headed Jehan Daruvala and Max Fewtrell, with the latter two separated by a couple of hundredths of a second.

Pedro Piquet, who topped the practice session last time out in Barcelona, was sixth ahead of MP Motorsport's Richard Verschoor.

Jake Hughes was eighth, heading Felipe Drugovich who looked to have strong pace early on in the session before being toppled down the order as the time ticked on.

Marcus Armstrong rounded out the top ten, just beating Lirim Zendeli to the position. 

Christian Lungaard, who is second in the championship, missed out on a race win in Barcelona due to a post-race penalty. The Dane ended the session in 12th.