Campos’s Carrasquedo quickest in Eurocup-3’s Algarve practice

Photo: Hitech GP

Campos Racing’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr was quickest across Eurocup-3 first two practice sessions at Algarve.

There were few changes at the top in FP1, and nobody even completed a flying lap until 14 minutes in.

Drivex School’s Preston Lambert laid down the first benchmark, setting a 1m41.784s. MP Motorsport’s Mattia Colnaghi beat him by 0.616 seconds not long after, then Lambert moved back ahead with his next lap as he improved to 1m40.917s.

Sainteloc Racing’s Garrett Berry crossed the line eight seconds later and went fastest by 0.194s. He was only very briefly on top, as Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi set a 1m40.573s then MP’s Maciej Gladysz lapped in 1m40.455s.

Berry found more pace on his next lap, improving to 1m40.320s, before a 1m40.171s returned Colnaghi to first place.

That stood as the fastest lap for six minutes, eventually being bettered by Carrasquedo. He set a 1m40.016s, and it took another five laps for him to go even faster and become the first driver to lap sub-1m40s.

He 1m39.854s lap set 33 minutes in kept him on top, as team-mate Enzo Tarnvanichkul and Sainteloc’s Theodor Jensen beat his previous best.

Tarnvanichkul got within 0.087s of Carrasquedo on his final lap, and Jenzen trailed by 0.123s.

Colnaghi ended FP1 in fourth, 0.209s behind, and Lambert dropped to seventh behind Palou’s Luciano Morano and Campos’s Jules Caranta as he peaked early with his pace and ended up 0.301s off the top. The top 22 were covered by less than a second, and Drivex’s Alessandro Famularo only set four laps.

Edu Robinson, making his debut this weekend with Drivex, was first to the top in FP2 as drivers headed out early this time and sought to better their pace on busy first runs.

The 1m43.477s set by Robinson had him ahead for only nine seconds before Morano posted a 1m43.291s, then Global Racing Service’s Yani Stevenheydens smashed his benchmark with a 1m42.479s.

Morano responded with a 1m41.42s, then 50s later Berry became the first driver into the 1m40s.

Campos’s Kacper Sztuka beat Berry, setting a 1m40.594s, then drivers either encountered traffic or returned to the pits and the number of green and purple sector times decreased.

Jensen moved into first place 11-and-a-half minutes in, pipping Sztuka by 0.052s, and a minute after that Campos’s Ernesto Rivera set a 1m40.097s that would not be beaten.

Sztuka got within 0.17s of Rivera later on, with Tarnvanichkul 0.273s off the top and Carrasquedo completing an all-Campos top four covered by 0.351s.

Rivera, Sztuka and Palou’s Alceu Feldmann Neto were the only drivers to improve on their FP1 bests, with Rivera and Sztuka moving up to fifth and 12th overall.

Free practice results