Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Hitech GP’s Alex Dunne was fastest in a wet final session of FIA Formula 3 post-season testing at Imola.
The bad weather meant there was little track action at first, with Trident’s Santiago Ramos first to set a laptime nine minutes in. After 15 minutes he had been joined on track by three others, and the laptimes were considerably slower than in the morning session.
Ramos stayed on top for 59 minutes before Dunne set a 1m49.625s lap. That was beaten a minute later by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Noel Leon, and then several drivers traded fastest laps over the next 20 minutes.
The pace was brought down into the 1m46s, with MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz on top at the halfway mark of the three-hour session.
Trident’s Sami Meguetounif was in second place, just 0.052 seconds behind, but shotly after he stopped at turn 21 with a technical problem and red flags were brought out.
Action resumed nine minutes later, and Prema’s Gabriele Mini set a new benchmark of 1m46.821s with 72 minutes left of the session. Not long after there was another red flag period, this time caused by Rodin Carlin’s Louis Sharp stopping at turn 14 with a technical problem.
Mini improved twice in the final hour, lowering the pace to 1m45.744s. Campos Racing’s Sebastian Montoya moved ahead of him with 36 minutes to go, setting a 1m45.682s, then five minutes later a flurry of improvements came in and Ugo Ugochukcu (Carlin), Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident), Dunne and Dino Beganovic (Prema) all spent time on top.
Fornaroli led the way with half an hour remaining, but his 1m45.181s laptime was soon beaten by Meguetounif who improved three times and brought the pace down into the 1m43s.
Mini returned to the top with 18 minutes to go, setting a 1m43.028s, the Fornaroli utilised his slipstream to go 0.724s faster, and finally Dunne set two successive improvements to go fastest by a second with a 1m39.730s lap.
His rivals were denied the chance to respond as red flags waved with a few minutes to go due to ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov stopping at turn 14.
Afternoon session results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gaps | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Dunne | Hitech GP | 1m39.730s | 31 | |
| 2 | Charlie Wurz | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m40.763s | +1.033s | 30 |
| 3 | Dino Beganovic | Prema | 1m40.936s | +1.206s | 32 |
| 4 | Gabriele Mini | Prema | 1m41.820s | +2.090s | 27 |
| 5 | Max Esterson | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m41.950s | +2.220s | 40 |
| 6 | Oliver Goethe | Campos Racing | 1m42.122s | +2.392s | 26 |
| 7 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Trident | 1m42.304s | +2.574s | 35 |
| 8 | Lauens van Hoepen | ART Grand Prix | 1m42.409s | +2.679s | 37 |
| 9 | Mari Boya | Campos Racing | 1m43.060s | +3.330s | 31 |
| 10 | Nikola Tsolov | ART Grand Prix | 1m43.284s | +3.554s | 35 |
| 11 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Carlin | 1m43.339s | +3.609s | 30 |
| 12 | Arvid Lindblad | Prema | 1m43.374s | +3.644s | 33 |
| 13 | Tim Tramnitz | MP Motorsport | 1m43.403s | +3.673s | 32 |
| 14 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 1m43.750s | +4.020s | 30 |
| 15 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | PHM Racing | 1m43.786s | +4.056s | 35 |
| 16 | Santiago Ramos | Trident | 1m43.998s | +4.268s | 38 |
| 17 | Noel Leon | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m44.044s | +4.314s | 43 |
| 18 | Tommy Smith | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m44.229s | +4.499 | 31 |
| 19 | Kacper Sztuka | MP Motorsport | 1m44.270s | +4.540s | 31 |
| 20 | Gregoire Saucy | MP Motorsport | 1m44.279s | +4.549s | 31 |
| 21 | Cian Shields | Hitech GP | 1m44.281s | +4.551s | 32 |
| 22 | Christian Mansell | ART Grand Prix | 1m44.319s | +4.589s | 33 |
| 23 | Sophia Floersch | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m44.434s | +4.704s | 39 |
| 24 | Joshua Dufek | PHM Racing | 1m44.544s | +4.814s | 28 |
| 25 | Martinius Stenshorne | Hitech GP | 1m45.094s | +5.364s | 32 |
| 26 | Louis Sharp | Carlin | 1m45.639s | +5.909s | 27 |
| 27 | Sebastian Montoya | Campos Racing | 1m45.682s | +5.952s | 24 |
| 28 | Callum Voisin | Carlin | 1m45.797s | +6.067s | 29 |
| 29 | Matias Zagazeta | Jenzer Motorsport | 1m46.039s | +6.309s | 32 |
| 30 | Joshua Duerksen | PHM Racing | 1m48.796s | +9.066s | 13 |