ART Grand Prix’s Marvin Kirchhöfer sets the early pace in Abu DhabiThe gloves are off! German ace Marvin Kirchhöfer led the way in an exciting Free Practice session in Abu Dhabi. The fight for P1 was fierce – with Series leader Luca Ghiotto from Trident finishing second; one place ahead of his fellow title contender Esteban Ocon (ART Grand Prix).The 24 drivers fed onto the Yas Marina Circuit for the final round of the 2015 GP3 Series season. There was one change to the line-up with Adderly Fong replacing Jann Mardenborough at Carlin. The start of the session saw an ART GP one-two with Kirchhöfer holding the advantage over Ocon, before Campos Racing’s Alex Palou flew to the top of the pile by just 0.001s.Ocon soon found more pace to rise to P1; whilst Ghiotto was busy lighting sector one and two in purple – only to find traffic in the final sector costing him his chance to challenge the Frenchman. Once the Trident star found some clear air, he was first to lap in the 1m57’s before Carlin’s Antonio Fuoco and Mitch Gilbert headed the timesheet.Ocon reclaimed P1 briefly until Kirchhöfer improved again. In the last ten minutes, positions throughout the field changed by the second, with the session feeling almost qualifying-esque. Ghiotto found himself back on top of the pack by a mere 0.011s but the action was not done yet.Mercedes junior Ocon headed back to the top of the timings, but it was Kirchhöfer who set the first sector in purple to go quickest by two tenths. Ghiotto wasn’t finished and he went for one final blast, but the Italian ended up second fastest, one tenth shy of Kirchhöfer’s best lap.At the chequered flag, behind the trio of Kirchhöfer, Ghiotto and Ocon: Matthew Parry, Kevin Ceccon, Jimmy Eriksson, Ralph Boschung, Fuoco, Pal Varhaug and Matheo Tuscher completed the top ten.Qualifying takes place at 15:10 today with Ghiotto and Ocon desperate to take the vital four points on offer pole, but 22 other drivers will be doing their very best to stop them!Free Practice Driver Team Laptime Laps1. Marvin Kirchhöfer ART Grand Prix 1:56.070 172. Luca Ghiotto Trident 1:56.208 193. Esteban Ocon ART Grand Prix 1:56.312 174. Matthew Parry Koiranen GP 1:56.506 205. Kevin Ceccon Arden International 1:56.568 156. Jimmy Eriksson Koiranen GP 1:56.582 187. Ralph Boschung Jenzer Motorsport 1:56.705 178. Antonio Fuoco Carlin 1:56.895 199. Pal Varhaug Jenzer Motorsport 1:57.020 1810. Matheo Tuscher Jenzer Motorsport 1:57.184 1811. Alfonso Celis. Jr ART Grand Prix 1:57.245 1712. Mitchell Gilbert Carlin 1:57.259 1913. Michele Beretta Trident 1:57.382 1814. Alex Fontana Status Grand Prix 1:57.505 1715. Zaid Ashkanani Campos Racing 1:57.679 1816. Sandy Stuvik Status Grand Prix 1:57.679 1617. Adderly Fong Carlin 1:57.747 1918. Artur Janosz Trident 1:57.837 1719. Matevos Isaakyan Koiranen GP 1:58.121 1620. Emil Bernstorff Arden International 1:58.410 1821. Alex Palou Campos Racing 1:58.620 1922. Seb Morris Status Grand Prix 2:00.015 1523. Aleksander Bosak Arden International 2:01.243 1624. Konstantin Tereshchenko Campos Racing 2:04.429 6