Tsolov continues to set the pace in F3 post-season testing

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov was fastest once again on the first afternoon of FIA Formula 3’s post-season test at Barcelona.

The track was very busy early on, with 23 drivers setting laptimes in the first 10 minutes. Rodin Motorsport’s Freddie Slater was the initial pacesetter, a 1m29.078s putting him 0.477 seconds ahead of team-mate Louis Sharp.

Roman Bilinski completed a top-three lockout for Rodin and was the only other driver to lap sub-1m30s, with Hitech GP’s Joshua Dufek, Martinius Stenshorne and Gerrard Xie occupying the next three places.

Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu, Brando Badoer and Noel Leon slotted into fourth, eighth and ninth when they set flying laps 12 minutes in, with MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz completing the top 10.

The Rodin and Prema drivers, along with Campos’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, were in the pits after 23 minutes while everyone else racked up more running, although Tsolov and team-mate Mari Boya were not registering laptimes when they headed out.

Tramnitz set a 1m29.491s to snatch second place a minute after that, and team-mate Alessandro Giusti set a 1m29.553s to rise to third while Xie improved in 10th.

Stenshorne took over a top spot with a 1m29.018s a short while later, and his team-mates also found more pace. Dufek set a 1m29.289s in third, and Xie moved up one spot on the timesheet.

The first third of thee three-hour session ended with everyone in the pits, although the Rodin drivers had been out on their own not long before that, then Tramnitz and Giusti headed out together. Rodin’s trio joined them, then eventually Jenzer Motorsport and Hitech’s drivers did too. Jenzer was taking part in the test despite being replaced on the F3 grid next year by DAMS.

There were improved laptimes outside of the top 10 places, and by the halfway point of the afternoon running everyone was pit-bound once more.

On the next runs, Jenzer’s Matias Zagazeta and MP’s Bruno del Pino went third and fourth with 1m29.1s laps, and ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen set a 1m29.393s in eighth. The Campos trio were still set to put laptimes next to their names.

That changed at the end of the second hour. Sharp and Bilinski improved in 11th and 12th, Boya went 14th fastest and and Tsolov hopped up to 24th place.

Early in the final hour he shot to the top with a 1m28.370s, 0.648s faster than anyone else had managed. Trident’s Rafael Camara cut the gap to a still impressive 0.521s, while Boya and Inthraphuvasak went fourth and seventh fastest.

Also improving were Trident’s Charlie Wurz in fifth and Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett in 14th. Bennett was among one of the few drivers who got consistent running in during the last hour, but pitted just before the finish so Giusti was the only driver to take the chequered flag.

Afternoon session results