Home Featured Bearman dons slicks to end day one of Jerez F3 test on top

Bearman dons slicks to end day one of Jerez F3 test on top

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Ollie Bearman set the fastest time of the first day of the FIA Formula 3 test in Jerez in the afternoon session as the drivers got their first chance to fit slick tyres for a final 15-minute shoot-out.

The Prema driver set his best time of 1m33.009s on his final lap, one of 15 drivers to improve on their final tours.

Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti moved up to second fastest at the close, having not featured in the leading group to that point, although his time was 0.657s slower than Bearman’s.

Zane Maloney (Trident) and Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) had been among the earliest to pit, and ended up just 0.015s apart in third and fourth.

A heavy downpour during the break between sessions meant that afternoon testing again began on a very wet track. However, a dry line began to emerge in the final 30 minutes, and with just 15 minutes remaining the first cars ventured out on slick tyres.

Though initially 15s off the pace, it did not take long for the slick-shod runners to get temperature into their tyres and to improve significantly on the best times up to that point.

With eight minutes on the clock, Bearman, one of the first to stop, put in a lap of 1m36.249, 4s faster than the previous best wet weather tyre mark which had been posted by Trident’s Roman Stanek.

As the track dried further the times came down rapidly, with early stoppers Victor Martins (ART GP), Ido Cohen (Jenzer), David Vidales (Campos) and Zane Maloney (Trident) all setting competitive times, though unable to better Bearman.

With just under seven minutes remaining, Bearman improved to 1m34.763, before improving again to 1m33.667, having backed off for a couple of laps to cool his tyres.

With the chequered flag out, the first 12 all managed to improve their times on their final laps.

The session again saw a single red flag stoppage, this time for Caio Collet, who ran wide into the barriers at the T4 left-hander opposite the pits, and took no further part in proceedings for the afternoon.

Brad Benavides and Alexander Smolyar were once again absent, while Rafael Villagomez managed only two laps.

Afternoon session
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Ollie Bearman Prema 1m33.009s 41
2 Pepe Marti Campos Racing 1m33.666s +0.657s 39
3 Zane Maloney Trident 1m33.736s +0.727s 35
4 Victor Martins ART Grand Prix 1m33.751s +0.742s 43
5 Arthur Leclerc Prema 1m33.998s +0.989s 44
6 Juan Manuel Correa ART Grand Prix 1m34.122s +1.113s 34
7 Jak Crawford Prema 1m34.203s +1.194s 44
8 Oliver Rasmussen Trident 1m34.494s +1.485s 41
9 Gregoire Saucy ART Grand Prix 1m34.683s +1.674s 34
10 David Vidales Campos Racing 1m34.901s +1.892s 41
11 Hunter Yeany Campos Racing 1m34.913s +1.904s 19
12 Francesco Pizzi Charouz Racing System 1m35.212s +2.203s 25
13 Ido Cohen Jenzer Motorsport 1m35.997s +2.988s 33
14 Ayrton Simmons Charouz Racing System 1m37.379s +4.370s 31
15 Laszlo Toth Charouz Racing System 1m39.526s +6.517s 35
16 Roman Stanek Trident 1m39.776s +6.767s 33
17 Isack Hadjar Hitech GP 1m41.117s +8.108s 30
18 William Alatalo Jenzer Motorsport 1m41.357s +8.348s 42
19 Kush Maini MP Motorsport 1m41.563s +8.554s 29
20 Nazim Azman Hitech GP 1m41.686s +8.677s 35
21 Federico Malvestiti Jenzer Motorsport 1m42.011s +9.002s 44
22 Franco Colapinto Van Amersfoort Racing 1m42.020s +9.011s 28
23 Kaylen Frederick Hitech GP 1m42.098s +9.089s 32
24 Reece Ushijima Van Amersfoort Racing 1m42.443s +9.434s 20
25 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin 1m42.785s +9.776s 32
26 Caio Collet MP Motorsport 1m42.930s +9.921s 16
27 Enzo Trulli Carlin 1m43.911s +10.902s 36
28 Rafael Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 1m57.953s +24.944s 2