Home Formula 3FIA F3 Championship Doohan puts VAR on top on its first day back in F3

Doohan puts VAR on top on its first day back in F3

by Ida Wood

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Jack Doohan completed a perfect first day back in Formula 3 for Van Amersfoort Racing, as he was fastest in the morning and afternoon on day one of post-season testing.

The three-day FIA F3 Championship test at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo circuit marks VAR’s first appearance in the category since the 2018 Macau Grand Prix, and in addition to Doohan it ran Reece Ushijima and Rafael Villagomez on Monday.

Tom Claessen will be the team manager for VAR’s expansion into FIA F3, and his driver management client Villagomez is all but guaranteed to be racing for the team next year.

Unlike in the morning session, drivers were quick to get on the pace in the afternoon and it was initially Red Bull junior Jak Crawford who was fastest for Prema.

While Red Bull-aligned drivers have not usually raced for the Italian team, Dennis Hauger’s title win with Prema this year after he chose to drive for them is believed to have swayed the mind of Red Bull’s driver development boss Dr Helmut Marko and his American protege Crawford is hotly tipped to take the seat occupied by Hauger for 2022.

MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto was next to the top after Crawford, then Gregoire Saucy (ART Grand Prix), Lorenzo Colombo (Charouz Racing System) and Caio Collet (MP).

Alpine junior Collet sat in first place for close to 50 minutes before his Formula 1 junior team stablemate Victor Martins broke into the 1m22s for ART GP. The only driver who could get close to that at first was Formula Regional Europe champion Saucy, while many remained in the pits.

It wasn’t until well over an hour later when Martin was usurped, as Doohan went fastest with a 1m22.414s. He improved upon that slightly before the end, with Martins also going faster but remaining in second place.

Test results

Pos Name Team Time Gap Laps
1 Jack Doohan Van Amersfoort Racing 1m22.402s 44
2 Victor Martins ART Grand Prix 1m22.533s +0.131s 53
3 Zane Maloney Trident 1m22.708s +0.306s 42
4 Roman Stanek Trident 1m22.739s +0.337s 47
5 Gregoire Saucy ART Grand Prix 1m22.763s +0.361s 56
6 Lorenzo Colombo Charouz Racing System 1m22.846s +0.444s 51
7 Arthur Leclerc Prema 1m22.893s +0.491s 51
8 Jak Crawford Prema 1m22.967s +0.565s 49
9 Oliver Rasmussen Charouz Racing System 1m23.071s +0.669s 60
10 Franco Colapinto MP Motorsport 1m23.072s +0.670s 41
11 Kaylen Frederick Hitech GP 1m23.081s +0.679s 26
12 Caio Collet MP Motorsport 1m23.125s +0.723s 48
13 Ollie Bearman Prema 1m23.199s +0.797s 48
14 Jonny Edgar Trident 1m23.228s +0.826s 29
15 Isack Hadjar Hitech GP 1m23.296s +0.894s 33
16 Johnathan Hoggard Hitech GP 1m23.348s +0.946s 35
17 Filip Ugran Jenzer Motorsport 1m23.371s +0.969s 52
18 Roberto Faria Jenzer Motorsport 1m23.395s +0.993s 50
19 Juan Manuel Correa ART Grand Prix 1m23.449s +1.047s 54
20 David Vidales Campos Racing 1m23.485s +1.083s 43
21 Tijmen van der Helm MP Motorsport 1m23.540s +1.138s 43
22 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin 1m23.566s +1.164s 40
23 Pepe Marti Campos Racing 1m23.652s +1.250s 40
24 Nazim Azman Jenzer Motorsport 1m23.720s +1.318s 49
25 Reece Ushijima Van Amersfoort Racing 1m23.786s +1.384s 43
26 Rafael Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 1m23.951s +1.549s 45
27 Hunter Yeany Campos Racing 1m24.025s +1.623s 42
28 Ido Cohen Carlin 1m24.093s +1.691s 44
29 Brad Benavides Carlin 1m24.678s +2.276s 45
30 Laszlo Toth Charouz Racing System 1m25.009s +2.607s 52