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Freddie Slater led a Trident one-two on the second morning of FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Barcelona.
He went 1.391 seconds quicker than the laptime that put him on top of day one’s timesheet, and had a 0.331s gap to second place at the conclusion of the three-hour session.
Prema’s trio were the first on track, and all drivers were keen to set down representative laptimes early on after damp conditions the previous morning.
Theophile Nael (Campos Racing) set the early pace with a 1m46.217s, over a second clear of Enzo Deligny (Van Amersfoort Racing).
The time to beat got lower and lower, and after the first 10 minutes a 1m30.084s was enough to put Louis Sharp (Prema) on top. He led Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix) by 0.184s.
As drivers completed their third set of push laps early on, Sharp was relegated to fourth. Noah Stromsted had posted a 1m28.447s to lead Trident team-mate Matteo De Palo by 1.094s, and Slater was up to third.
Improvements were made by drivers again later into hour one, which Gerrard Xie (DAMS) ended on top with a 1m27.792s. He was soon in third though as Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport) lowered the pace to 1m27.402, pipping Stromsted by 0.014s.
Approaching the session’s halfway point, Slater knocked Kato off top spot with a 1m27.020s lap that would go unbeaten. Kato’s previous benchmark was beaten by 0.297s, and he failed to improve thereon. With 81 minutes to go, Stromsted edged ahead of him by 0.009s.
Teams opted to focus on long runs for the second half of the session, and there was little change to the order. Behind the top three, Maciej Gladysz (ART GP) trailed Slater by 0.3s in fourth, and Taponen was fifth with the laptime that had put him in first place for a period of running.
Morning session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Freddie Slater | Trident | 1m27.020s | 25 | |
| 2 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 1m27.308s | +0.288s | 26 |
| 3 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.317s | +0.297s | 35 |
| 4 | Maciej Gladysz | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.320s | +0.300s | 38 |
| 5 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 1m27.402s | +0.382s | 39 |
| 6 | Brad Benavides | AIX Racing | 1m27.471s | +0.451s | 26 |
| 7 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.555s | +0.535s | 37 |
| 8 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m27.574s | +0.554s | 46 |
| 9 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 1m27.663s | +0.643s | 22 |
| 10 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | 1m27.792s | +0.772s | 28 |
| 11 | James Wharton | Prema | 1m27.852s | +0.832s | 22 |
| 12 | Theophile Nael | Campos Racing | 1m27.875s | +0.855s | 28 |
| 13 | Niko Lacorte | DAMS | 1m27.875s | +0.855s | 30 |
| 14 | Louis Sharp | Prema | 1m27.917s | +0.897s | 23 |
| 15 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 1m27.932s | +0.912s | 40 |
| 16 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 1m27.963s | +0.943s | 40 |
| 17 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | 1m28.038s | +1.018s | 34 |
| 18 | Enzo Deligny | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m28.044s | +1.024s | 24 |
| 19 | Bruno del Pino | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m28.081s | +1.061s | 28 |
| 20 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos Racing | 1m28.086s | +1.066s | 22 |
| 21 | Tim Tramnitz | Hitech GP | 1m28.144s | +1.124s | 19 |
| 22 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech GP | 1m28.155s | +1.135s | 20 |
| 23 | Brando Badoer | Rodin Motorsport | 1m28.241s | +1.221s | 31 |
| 24 | Patrick Heuzenroeder | Campos Racing | 1m28.327s | +1.307s | 29 |
| 25 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | 1m28.385s | +1.365s | 27 |
| 26 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech GP | 1m28.484s | +1.464s | 21 |
| 27 | Jose Garfias | Prema | 1m28.681s | +1.661s | 25 |
| 28 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | 1m28.756s | +1.736s | 28 |
| 29 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin Motorsport | 1m29.069s | +2.049s | 30 |
| 30 | Christian Ho | Rodin Motorsport | 1m29.118s | +2.098s | 30 |