Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe set a pace that could not be matched on the second morning of FIA Formula 3’s post-season Barcelona test.
Unlike on Tuesday it was a very busy track early on in the three-hour session, with 25 drivers on track at the 10-minute mark. Goethe was fastest with a 1m27.710s, 0.290 seconds ahead of team-mate Mari Boya, then with a group of drivers lapping in the 1m28s. In total 23 drivers had set flying laps, and 27 recording laps of any kind.
But just a few minutes later almost everyone was back in the pits, and after 21 minutes the only two drivers on track were Hadrien David and Emmo Fittipaldi who were yet to put laptimes next to their names on the timesheet.
Red flags waved 32 minutes in due to Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz hitting trouble in the first sector, and at that point Prema’s Gabriele Mini was fastest with a 1m27.034s laptime. Goetge was 0.091s behind in second, Boya was a further 0.274s back in third and Prema’s Arvid Lindblad was fourth fastest.
The session resumed after 44 minutes had passed on the clock, and it took a further 10 minutes for drivers to get up to pace. Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli went third fastest with a 1m27.382s, and Lindblad improved to 1m27.636s in fifth.
Goethe returned to first place before the next red flag stoppage 72 minutes in, and his 1m26.675s would prove to be the morning’s fastest lap. Fornaroli had made another improvement to 1m27.261s by that point, and Boya had set a 1m27.261s in fourth to edge ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen who was the cause of the flags as he came to a stop in sector two.
Few drivers lowered their pace in the session’s second half once action resumed, meaning Goethe would end up on top by 0.359s over Mini and with Fornaroli 0.586s behind in third. Mini was one of six drivers to be active when the chequered flag waved. Also active was team-mate Dino Beganovic, who surprisingly ended the session 1.814s off the pace down in 28th place.
Morning session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gaps | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Goethe | Campos Racing | 1m26.675s | 31 | |
| 2 | Gabriele Mini | Prema | 1m27.034s | +0.359s | 48 |
| 3 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 1m27.261s | +0.586s | 41 |
| 4 | Mari Boya | Campos Racing | 1m27.287s | +0.612s | 31 |
| 5 | Laurens van Hoepen | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.296s | +0.621s | 19 |
| 6 | Nikola Tsolov | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.362s | +0.687s | 41 |
| 7 | Noel Leon | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m27.494s | +0.819s | 33 |
| 8 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 1m27.622s | +0.947s | 45 |
| 9 | Arvid Lindblad | Prema | 1m27.636s | +0.961s | 49 |
| 10 | Christian Mansell | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.636s | +0.961s | 46 |
| 11 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos Racing | 1m27.652s | +0.977s | 29 |
| 12 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | 1m27.681s | +1.006s | 24 |
| 13 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 1m27.698s | +1.023s | 44 |
| 14 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 1m27.775s | +1.100s | 43 |
| 15 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | 1m27.841s | +1.166s | 30 |
| 16 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Carlin | 1m27.915s | +1.240s | 25 |
| 17 | Max Esterson | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m27.946s | +1.271s | 28 |
| 18 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 1m27.953s | +1.278s | 30 |
| 19 | Sophia Floersch | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m28.012s | +1.337s | 36 |
| 20 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m28.015s | +1.340s | 10 |
| 21 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 1m28.019s | +1.344s | 27 |
| 22 | Tommy Smith | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m28.089s | +1.414s | 32 |
| 23 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m28.264s | +1.589s | 21 |
| 24 | Hadrien David | MP Motorsport | 1m28.396s | +1.721s | 24 |
| 25 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 1m28.404s | +1.729s | 13 |
| 26 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | 1m28.438s | +1.763s | 29 |
| 27 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | 1m28.444s | +1.769s | 31 |
| 28 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | 1m28.489s | +1.814s | 10 |
| 29 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 1m28.536s | +1.861s | 42 |
| 30 | Nikhil Bohra | Carlin | 1m28.845s | +2.170s | 35 |