Boya denies Tsolov top spot on final morning of F3 testing

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Mari Boya pipped Campos Racing team-mate Nikola Tsolov to top spot on the final morning of FIA Formula 3 post-season testing at Barcelona.

All but Hitech GP’s drivers headed out at the start of the three-hour session, and Rodin Motorsport’s Freddie Slater was first to set a flying lap. Tsolov had made his way to the top after seven minutes, setting the first 1m28s lap of the day, and led Boya and Trident’s Rafael Camara and Noah Stromsted.

The Trident pair made a quick trip into the pits before starting their second runs, and Hitech’s trio joined them after 12 minutes (but did not put laptimes next to their names). ART Grand Prix’s James Wharton went third fastest shortly after, and promptly pitted.

Camara and Stromsted went one-two 17 minutes in, with the former setting a 1m27.374s to go fastest by 0.685 seconds, and the pair were joined on track once more by Hitech’s drivers before they all pitted and there was no action.

At the half-hour mark the track was busy again and there was lots of personal best laptimes being set. Tsolov went fastest with a 1m27.236s, team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak rose to third and Wharton, ART GP team-mate Laurens van Hoepen and Prema’s Noel Leon also set sub-1m28s laptimes.

After the flurry of activity there was soon a near-empty Barcelona again, leaving Camara to utilise the clean air and nail some sector times. He improved to 1m27.306s, 0.097s off Tsolov’s benchmark.

The first timed efforts by the Hitech drivers left them at the bottom of the timesheet after everyone else had improved, so they headed back out 39 minutes into the session. Joshua Dufek set a 1m27.543s to take third from Inthraphuvasak, Martinius Stenshorne slotted into fifth and Gerrard Xie only improved to 22nd place.

Two minutes later Stromsted set a 1m27.646s in sixth, and he was soon joined on track by many of his rivals. MP Motorsport’s Bruno del Pino and Tim Tramnitz demoted him to eighth, as Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett and MP’s Alessandro Giusti also made their way into the top 10.

Boya was able to beat his team-mate Tsolov, but only by 0.027s, and at the end of the first hour Stenshorne set a 1m27.275s to sneak into third. Dufek and Inthraphuvasak improved in fifth and sixth before pitting, and Prema’s trio all bettered their pace but remained outside of the top 10.

The focus of runs switched for the next two hours, with only four personal best laptimes being set. Leon struck trouble at turn 12 with 17 minutes to go and caused red flags, with only a few minutes left once the session restarted. Six drivers were on track when the chequered flag waved.

Morning session results