Bortoleto brings F3 test to a close with fastest lap in Thursday session

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto was the fastest driver on the final day of FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Bahrain.

Rather than run two sessions each with a duration of two-and-a-half hours, the test schedule for Thursday was changed so teams would have a single four-hour session in the morning.

Bortoleto was top of the timesheet for the vast majority of the session, and was first to set a timed lap.

PHM Racing by Charouz’s Sophia Floersch actually set the first flying lap, but was only fastest for a few seconds before being bettered by ART Grand Prix’s Gregoire Saucy, who had topped the first two days of running.

His team-mate Kaylen Frederick then broke into the 1m48s just a few moments later, before Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez then went even faster with a 1m48.250s lap.

That kept him on top for 20 minutes before Bortoleto set a 1m48.162s to go fastest, but that benchmark only stood briefly as Saucy posted a 1m47.610s.

Several other drivers got into the 1m47s during the first 45 minutes of track action, with Hugh Barter (Campos Racing), Dino Beganovic (Prema), Caio Collet (VAR), Frederick and Nikola Tsolov (ART GP) filling the positions behind Saucy.

An improvement of 0.091s was not enough to keep Saucy on top, as Bortoleto set a 1m47.417s to move ahead after 50 minutes. Prema’s Paul Aron rose into third place, ahead of Barter, the improving Beganovic and Campos’s Marti.

The order then stayed pretty static for the next three hours, with Hitech GP’s Gabriele Mini being the only driver to change their position on the timesheet in the top 13.

Mini went 12th fastest just after the first hour ended, then he improved to second place with a 1m47.452s lap.

Despite the rising temperatures, the focus then switched to longer runs for many drivers and the only moment of drama came five minutes from the end when red flags were brought out due to an incident at turn 11.

Afternoon session results