Kato ends F3 testing on top as ART fastest in Barcelona

Photo: Formula Motorsport LTD

Taito Kato ended FIA Formula 3 testing in Barcelona fastest as the ART driver set the fastest time in the morning session. Niccolò Maccagnani ended the afternoon session fastest for Trident.

Morning

It was Kato who started the session strongest, the Japanese driver clocking the fastest time as drivers poured onto the track in the opening ten minutes.

Alessandro Giusti toppled Kato soon after as the Frenchman took Rodin to the top with a 1m29.511 before the first red flag of the session was shown after Dion Gowda found the wall at turn 8.

When running resumed, Ernesto Rivera went fastest for Campos, the Mexican clocking a 1m28.186 with the top seven separated by just 0.186s.

Times continued to tumble, Kato moving back to the front with a 1m27.902 with Rivera his closest challenger, 0.012s adrift having bettered his previous time to a 1m27.914.

Teams opted to spend the final hour of the session focusing on longer runs before track action was halted once more, this time for Reza Seewooruthun who beached his Rodin in the gravel at turn 10.

No further improvements followed when action resumed allowing Kato to finish the session fastest, fractionally ahead of Rivera with Giusti rounding out the top three.

Afternoon

Trident and MP Motorsport were once again keen to get back out on track in the afternoon, Niccolò Maccagnani going fastest early on with a 1m29.994.

A third red flag of the day came out early on in the session when Zhenrui Chi ground to a halt in his MP.

Teams quickly switched their focus to long runs for the majority of the afternoon when running resumed.

Trident made it a 1-2-3 as Kean Nakamura-Berta moved 0.017s clear of his teammate, Sebastian Wheldon, in P2, the pair still over a second adrift of Maccagnani’s earlier effort.

After his crash in the earlier session, Dion Gowda moved his AIX into the top two, 0.8s behind the leading Trident. Gowda’s AIX teammate James Egozi made it an AIX 2-3 as the American set a 1m30.852 in the dying seconds of the session.

Van Amersfoort amounted the most laps as a team, Yevan David amounting 60 laps, the joint highest with Campos’ Ernesto Rivera, while David’s teammates, Enzo Deligny and Rashid Al Dhaheri, amounted 59 each.

Morning results

Afternoon results