Browning fastest in F3’s Spa practice on drying track

Photo: Hitech GP

Hitech GP’s Luke Browning led the way in FIA Formula 3 practice at Spa-Francorchamps.

Early morning rain meant the session started on a wet track, and the first four drivers out were Van Amersfoort Racing’s Tommy Smith and Jenzer Motorsport’s trio.

Smith set a 2m23.229s five minutes in, with Jenzer’s Charlie Wurz just 0.049 seconds slower, and a minute later there was lots of changes of position as many other drivers set their first laps.

Prema’s Gabriele Mini then AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin held third place, before Browning set a 2m22.089s to go top and Trident’s Sami Meguetounif went fourth fastest.

Bedrin’s team-mate Joshua Dufek slotted into fifth, then ART Grand Prix’s Christian Mansell posted a 2m22.772s to become Browning’s closest rival. By this point, everyone but ART GP’s debutant Tuukka Taponen and Campos Racing’s drivers had laptimes to their name, but then Mini dropped to last as his first flying lap in the wet was deleted.

Taponen’s first ever lap in an F3 car put him in 21st place, and 10 minutes in the Campos drivers were still only doing outlaps to assess the conditions.

A minute later VAR’s Noel Leon went second fastest, 0.259s off Browning, with Wurz improving in fourth and team-mate Max Esterson doing the same in sixth. Yellow flags waved briefly, but not long enough to deny drivers from improving their laptimes and Mini jumped back up to third ahead of team-mate Dino Beganovic.

Browning lowered the pace to 2m21.310s, with Bedrin also breaking the 2m22s barrier. Taponen was shuffled down to last place, his inexperience with both the car and the tricky conditions he was learning it in exposed.

ART GP’s Laurens van Hoepen set a 2m22.635s to go fifth fastest a third of the way into the session, but only held the position for a minute before Campos’s Oliver Goethe set a 2m22.562s. His team-mate Mari Boya was 20th before his fastest lap was deleted and he dropped to 30th, as Taponen improved to 18th.

Rodin Motorsport’s Joseph Loake was next to occupy third place, setting a 2m22.266s as many drivers returned to the pits and looked up at the skies to see whether it was worth switching to slick tyres now that a lot of water had been displaced by the running so far.

Those who stayed out proved that conditions were improving by going faster, with a 2m21.380s from Mansell putting him second ahead of van Hoepen, Bedrin, Loake, Taponen, Beganovic and Campos’s Sebastian Montoya.

Mansell was the last to pit halfway through practice, at which point Rodin’s Callum Voisin headed out but then came back in.

With 19 minutes to go, Beganovic and Mini left the pits as the sun appeared but did not choose slicks and quickly returned to the garages to correct that decision. Their rivals headed out in the meantime, with a mix of tyre choices on the first few cars due to puddles on track but then an armada of slick-shod runners behind. Arvid Lindblad spent longer in the pits as Prema worked on the rear-left axle of his car.

The first laptime improvement came from Boya, but he was 19s off the pace in 29th, and Mini then took the position from him with a laptime 12s off the best.

With six minutes to go, MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne set a 2m20.474s to sweep to top spot by 0.8s. His team-mate Tim Tramnitz got within 0.008s of him.

Two minutes later Montoya set a 2m20.024s, which was immediately beaten by a 2m19.990s from Trident’s Santiago Ramos. Leon improved twice, and a 2m18.749s put him comfortably on top before yellow flags waved due to Wurz spinning.

Boya jumped up to sixth behind Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli before that, then after AIX’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, Tramnitz, Mansell, Browning, van Hoepen and MP’s Kacper Sztuka demoted Ramos to eighth.

Dunne returned to the top by over a second with a 2m17.685s set with just over a minute left of practice, and 2m16s laps from Fornaroli, Lindblad and Boya put them second, third and fourth. Dunne’s lap was then deleted and he dropped to 19th while Tramnitz set a 2m17.021s benchmark.

Montoya smashed that just before the chequered flag with a 2m16.210s, then Ramos spun at the final chicane and Meguetounif went off there too. Drivers were still setting improvements after that, with a 2m15.570s from Browning provisionally standing as the fastest lap once everyone had returned to the pits.

Taponen ended his maiden F3 session in 12th after his fastest lap was deleted.

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