Berry fastest in Eurocup-3’s pre-event test at Algarve as grid grows

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Sainteloc Racing’s Garrett Berry was quickest in Eurocup-3’s pre-event test at Algarve.

Seven of the 29 drivers skipped the first two sessions on Tuesday, and at the top of session one was Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi. He set a 1m40.596s to edge Jesse Carrasquedo Jr by 0.077 seconds and Kacper Sztuka by 0.172s.

Enzo Tarnvanichkul and Ernesto Rivera made it four Campos Racing drivers in the top five, both within 0.36s of the pace.

Sztuka improved to 1m40.633s to top session two, denying Rivera by 0.001s. Berry and Drivex School’s Oscar Wurz were next up, 0.24s back.

Tarnvanichkul lowered the pace to 1m40.292s in a fully attended session three. Carrasquedo was second fastest, setting a 1m40.554s, and Berry was 0.491s behind in third. MP Motorsport’s Maciej Gladysz set a 1m40.812s mid-session to sit fourth.

It was far quieter for session four, with 19 drivers setting laps. A 1m40.913s put Berry on top, 0.4s ahead of Campos’s Jules Caranta and Drivex’s Cristian Cantu. Wurz trailed by 0.452s in fourth, and team-mate Preston Lambert was fifth.

Berry continued to lead the way on Wednesday morning, and late on in session five posted a 1m39.862s benchmark. Egozi was 0.087s off in second, and Rivera also broke the 1m40s barrier in third. There was a 0.155s gap to Sztuka in fourth, and Carrasquedo, Tarnvanichkul and Caranta also beat Tuesday’s pace. A second covered the top 19.

Egozi pipped Rivera by 0.005s and Sztuka by 0.04s in session six, setting a 1m40.105s to top the timesheet. It was similarly close between fourth and sixth, as Gladysz was 0.001s ahead of Carrasquedo and 0.032s faster than Berry.

Although he was significantly slower in session seven, and only did eight laps, Egozi was quickest again. A 1m40.935s put him on top by 0.154s over Caranta, and Tarnvanichkul was 0.186s behind in third. Seven drivers skipped the session.

Testing concluded with another quiet period and a slower pace. Mattia Colnaghi set a 1m40.797s to lead team-mate Gladysz by 0.443s, but little over 0.1s split Gladysz from other team-mate Alexander Abkhazava in sixth. Andres Cardenas (MP), Tarnvanichkul and Valerio Rinicella (MP) were between them.

Drivex will have two new drivers this weekend, as Cantu replaces Wiktor Dobrzanski and Edu Robinson joins.

Cantu was 2023 NACAM Formula 4 runner-up, came 30th in Spanish F4 last year and began 2025 with outings in Eurocup-3’s winter series. Robinson steps up from F4 after coming 16th in E4 last year and picking up Formula Winter Series podiums.

At MP, Kai Daryanani replaces Juan Cota. Daryanani won in Australian F4, GB4 and Formula Trophy United Arab Emirates while in F4, and this year has raced in Eurocup-3’s winter series, Formula Regional Middle East and GB3.

Sainteloc meanwhile has reunited with Theodor Jensen, who drove for them in Spanish F4 and F4 UAE and was one of Eurocup-3’s top rookies in 2024. He was 14th in the standings, then became Asian Le Mans Series LMP3 class champion and currently leads the European LMS’s LMP3 class.

Test results