Boya back on top at Barcelona in wet-to-dry test session for F3

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Campos Racing’s Mari Boya topped the final morning of FIA Formula 3 in-season testing at Barcelona, in a session that started wet and finished dry.

However, the Spaniard did not beat his benchmark of 1m26.646s from the previous day, which remains the fastest lap of the test.

Overnight showers meant the track was wet when the day’s action began. Therefore, drivers seized the opportunity to clock some laps on grooved tyres.

ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell was the first to set a representative laptime, a 1m42.018s, which was soon lowered.

The pace improved as the track dried out with almost all the cars on it. Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli broke the 1m40s barrier 20 minutes into the session.

Further improvements were made in the following minutes. The fastest lap on wet compound tyres was a 1m37.131s by Hitech GP’s Luke Browning, with Prema’s Dino Beganovic and Trident’s Sami Meguetounif half a second and seventh tenths of a second off that pace respectively in second and third place.

MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz was the first driver to switch to the hard compound slick tyres, 40 minutes in, followed by team-mate Kacper Sztuka. Browning and PHM Racing’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak meanwhile kept clocking laps on grooved tyres as they aimed to learn as much as possible about the crossover conditions.

Tramnitz brought the pace down to 1m33.922s and then 1m31.175s. After that, several other drivers took the track and improved, with Boya topping the times with a 1m30.760s at the end of the first hour of running.

Little action followed in the next half-hour. But as the track continued to dry out, drivers who did go out were able to set personal bests in the 1m29s. Prema’s Arvid Lindblad was the reference for a while with a 1m29.564s, before Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon bettered him by 0.324 seconds.

More running took place in the last hour and drivers fitted new tyres as temperatures rose and the track improved further. Boya and team-mate Oliver Goethe went one-two as they completed a first qualifying simulation, and MP’s Alex Dunne went third fastest.

Browning was fourth, then improved his best lap by one tenth of a second to be third after his second performance run. Significant improvements from Prema’s Lindblad and Gabriele Mini meant they rounded off the top five and shuffled Dunne down to sixth.

Morning session results