Photo: FIA F3 Championship
Logan Sargeant topped both sessions for Prema on a wet final day of the post-season FIA Formula 3 Championship test at Valencia.
Heavy rain hammered the Ricardo Tormo circuit early in the morning, with laptimes on the wet tyres over 10 seconds slower than the previous day’s benchmark.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Andreas Estner was the first to set a representative laptime, but the displacement of water meant times improved drastically and Renault juniors Max Fewtrell and Christian Lundgaard rose to the top.
There were several drivers who had offs in the wet, including Ferdinand Habsburg and Dan Ticktum who were both testing the car as practice for a return to the Macau Grand Prix.
Sargeant came into his own in the last half-hour of the session, setting personal bests on multiple occasions and becoming the only driver during the day to lap in the 1m33s.
The circuit got wetter prior to the afternoon session, and it was Trident’s Lirim Zendeli who looked most comfortable in the conditions.
A crash for Campos Racing’s karting graduate David Vidales stopped the session, and when it restarted it was Sargeant who was fastest again before another red flag interruption.
ART Grand Prix’s Lundgaard was second fastest overall, ahead of HWA Racelab’s Jake Hughes and Hitech GP’s Fewtrell. Formula Regional European champion Frederik Vesti was next best behind Sargeant in the afternoon and ninth overall.
Enaam Ahmed went sixth fastest in the morning for Campos, then handed over his car to former Formula 1 driver Roberto Merhi – who earlier this year trialled US Racing’s FREC car to help the team.
Combined day three times
| Pos? | Driver | Team | Morning | Afternoon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Logan Sargeant | Prema | 1:33.705 | 1:34.645 |
| 2 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:34.130 | 1:35.363 |
| 3 | Jake Hughes | HWA Racelab | 1:34.322 | 1:35.074 |
| 4 | Max Fewtrell | Hitech GP | 1:34.415 | 1:34.995 |
| 5 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Trident | 1:34.578 | 1:35.803 |
| 6 | Enaam Ahmed | Campos Racing | 1:34.584 | no time |
| 7 | Dennis Hauger | Hitech GP | 1:34.672 | 1:35.528 |
| 8 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 1:34.715 | 1:35.196 |
| 9 | Frederik Vesti | Prema | 1:34.719 | 1:34.977 |
| 10 | Bent Viscaal | MP Motorsport | 1:34.861 | 1:34.981 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:34.874 | 1:35.709 |
| 12 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Prema | 1:34.875 | 1:35.555 |
| 13 | Jack Doohan | Hitech GP | 1:34.889 | 1:35.326 |
| 14 | Igor Fraga | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1:34.899 | 1:35.614 |
| 15 | Olli Caldwell | Prema | 1:34.940 | 1:36.464 |
| 16 | Clement Novalak | Carlin | 1:34.983 | 1:35.750 |
| 17 | Simo Laaksonen | HWA Racelab | 1:35.016 | 1:35.583 |
| 18 | Lirim Zendeli | Trident | 1:35.025 | 1:35.621 |
| 19 | Ferdinand Habsburg | ART Grand Prix | 1:35.084 | 1:35.625 |
| 20 | Sophia Floersch | HWA Racelab | 1:25.127 | 1:26.285 |
| 21 | Theo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1:35.342 | 1:35.299 |
| 22 | Billy Monger | Carlin | 1:35.304 | 1:36.282 |
| 23 | Calan Williams | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:35.395 | 1:35.903 |
| 24 | Lukas Dunner | MP Motorsport | 1:35.537 | 1:36.180 |
| 25 | David Schumacher | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1:22.034 | 1:35.651 |
| 26 | David Vidales | Campos Racing | 1:35.666 | 1:36.792 |
| 27 | Roberto Merhi | Campos Racing | no time | 1:35.773 |
| 28 | Andreas Estner | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:35.806 | 1:35.880 |
| 29 | Joao Vieira | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1:35.809 | 1:36.032 |
| 30 | Charles Leong | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:35.831 | 1:36.153 |
| 31 | Alessio Deledda | Campos Racing | 1:36.285 | 1:37.861 |