Maciej Gladysz sets afternoon pace on day one of F3 test at Barcelona

Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

ART Grand Prix’s Maciej Gladysz left it late to top the afternoon session on day one of FIA Formula 3’s post-season Barcelona test.

There was a busier start than in the morning, with Trident’s Noah Stromsted first to set a flying lap six minutes in.

Rodin Motorsport’s Brando Badoer bettered that a minute-and-a-half later with a 1m29.928s, which team-mate Christian Ho got within 0.261 seconds of. At this point half of the field was on track, and 20 drivers had set laptimes after 17 minutes.

Pedro Clerot completed a Rodin lockout of the top three 26 minutes in, and soon after Trident’s Freddie Slater went fifth fastest.

The top six were in the pits at the half-hour mark, while Gladysz and the Hitech GP and Prema drivers had still not recorded laptimes.

Gladysz put one down 44 minutes in, and four minutes later Hitech’s Jin Nakamura and Fionn McLaughlin became the last to do so. By then more than half of the field had returned to the pits, and once up to pace the Hitech pair sat eighth and ninth.

Hitech’s Michael Shin and Gladysz had the track to themselves as the second hour began, and only a few drivers headed out at a time after that. Most who did were on long runs, although Nakamura did go fifth quickest.

Approaching the halfway point, MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen and Alessandro Giusti slotted into second and third, 0.089s and 0.216s off Badoer, and team-mate Mattia Colnaghi jumped from 26th to sixth before AIX Racing’s Brad Benavides demoted him a spot.

He lost two more later in the hour when Prema’s Louis Sharp and James Wharton got within 0.4s of Badoer, before joining the rest of the field in the pits.

With 46 minutes to go, Taponen usurped Badoer by 0.404s. Giusti lapped 0.355s shy of his team-mate’s pace, then Wharton cut Taponen’s gap to 0.176s. Enzo Deligny made it three Prema drivers in the top seven by going fifth fastest, while most of the field remained in their garages.

Gladysz entered the top 10 with 31 minutes remaining, and two laps later rose to third with a 1m29.8s. That became fourth with 23 minutes left on the clock, as DAMS’ Gerrard Xie got within 0.055s of Taponen.

Red flags then interrupted proceedings, before a flurry of improvements eight minutes from the end.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi set a 1m29.473s to go quickest, and 10s later Colnaghi beat him by 0.228s. Giusti lapped 0.134s off the new benchmark, then Campos Racing’s Theophile Nael lowered the pace by 0.027s.

His team-mate Ernesto Rivera set a 1m29.070s, 0.148s quicker than Nael, and Trident’s Matteo De Palo demoted Yamakoshi to sixth.

Gladysz crossed the line with seven minutes to go and posted a 1m29.003s that would go unbeaten as team-mate Taito Kato set a 1m29.218s in fourth.

Ho and Clerot improved in fifth and seventh, and in the last four minutes Campos’s Ugo Ugochukwu jumped from 25th to third, 0.197s off Gladysz’s pace.

Additional reporting by Ida Wood

Afternoon session results