Beganovic fastest in final session of FIA F3 pre-season testing

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Prema’s Dino Beganovic topped the times as FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing came to an end at Bahrain.

Jenzer Motorsport’s Matias Zagazeta was first to set a lap four minutes into the two-and-a-half hour session, then ART Grand Prix duo Nikola Tsolov and Laurens van Hoepen moved to the top.

PHM Racing’s Joshua Dufek lowered the pace to 2m18.986s approaching the eight-minute mark, then less than two minutes later Campos Racing’s Sebastian Montoya set a 1m49.158s that would stand as the fastest lap for over 110 minutes.

Zagazeta and team-mate Max Esterson went second third fastest, setting a 1m49.425s and a 1m49.587s respectively, with Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli climbing to fourth place with a 1m51.637s.

He lost that position to Chalie Wurz – another of Jenzer’s drivers – after 11 minutes when he set a 1m50.259s, and two minutes later Zagazeta impoved to 1m49.236s.

MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne and Hitech GP’s Luke Browning were fifth and sixth after 32 minutes, both having set 1m51.5s. There was a red flag period not long after, with Dufek not returning to the pits when the flags waved, and towards the end of the first hour Beganovic rose to eighth with a 1m51.697s.

It was not until 55 minutes to go of testing that another driver lapped sub-1m51s, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Sophia Floersch setting a 1m50.732s to move into fifth place. Her team-mate Noel Leon set a 1m50.091s to go fourth fastest a few minutes later, then Tommy Smith made it three VAR drivers in the top 10 by setting a 1m50.741s.

With half an hour remaining Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli posted a 1m50.950s to go eighth fastest, just before a flurry of improvements came in.

Leon and Floerch went one-two, setting a 1m48.731s and a 1m49.015s respectively, and Prema’s Gabriele Mini jumped up to third with a 1m49.051s that also beat Montoya’s long-standing benchmark. His team-mates Beganovic and Arvid Lindblad went sixth and seventh fastest, with Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin and Smith also lapping sub-1m50s.

A minute later PHM’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak rose to ninth, then Browning went fastest by 0.366s with a 1m48.365s.

Beganovic improved to 1m49.212s to reclaim sixth place with 24 minutes to go, but Campos’s Mari Boya then went third fastest with a 1m48.971s and team-mate Oliver Goethe set a 1m49.130s to move into sixth and knock Beganovic down to eighth.

The track was busy through the last 15 minutes but there were scant improvements at first. PHM’s Nikita Bedrin jumped from 30th to ninth with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining, and Beganovic lowered the pace to 1m48.285s with five-and-a-half minutes to go.

Boya improved to 1m48.624s moments later but dropped to sixth as Leon set a 1m48.360s to return to second and Lindblad and Mini set 1m48.5s laps to move into fourth and fifth. Goethe also improved in seventh.

Bedrin found more pace with three-and-a-half minutes left on the clock but did not rise up the order, while Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne jumped up to seventh place with a 1m48.711s. Mini bettered Lindblad in the final minute to end the session in fourth.

Afternoon session results