Mari Boya leads Campos 1-2 on first morning of post-season F3 testing

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Mari Boya led a Campos Racing one-two on the first morning of FIA Formula 3 post-season testing at Jerez.

Only 19 of the 30 drivers at Jerez set flying laps in the opening session, and there were laps completed on grooved tyres as wella as slicks.

Boya hit the top 20 minutes in, setting a 1m46.706s to lead Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshorne and Joshua Dufek.

Stenshorne posted a 1m46.528s to take over top spot a few minutes later, and Trident’s Rafael Camara was briefly third before Dufek improved. The first sub-1m46s lap came from Stenshorne, and reaching the half-hour mark Dufek set a 1m45.848s to lead the way as more drivers went out on track.

After 45 minutes it was Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu on top, with a 1m45.494s lap to his name, and 23 drivers had set laps after initially only eight lapping at pace. ART Grand Prix’s Laurens van Hoepen was second fastest, ahead of Stenshorne, Campos’s Jesse Carrasquedo Jr and Dufek.

A 1m45.431s put Dufek ahead of Ugochukwu 51 minutes in, as Camara rose to fifth ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Freddie Slater and the Jenzer Motorsport-run Matias Zagazeta. Jenzer is not competing in FIA F3 next year.

Stenshorne returned to the top with a 1m45.204s shortly after, and he was still the benchmark driver after the first hour of three had passed. The track then featured very little activity.

Trident’s Charlie Wurz went sixth fastest as the second hour began, Rodin’s Louis Sharp and Slater both set 1m45.528s laps 14 minutes later to demote him to eighth, and by the session’s halfway point Ugochukwu was the driver to beat again with a 1m44.984s.

No other driver had lapped sub-1m45s, and two improvements from Boya brought him up to third.

An hour later the order had changed some more but everyone was once again back in the pits, with Campos’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak leading the way with a 1m43.287s. Ugochukwu had improved to 1m44.912s on his last lap before pitting,a nd behind them were Stenshorne and Boya.

The track finally became busy again with 12 minutes to go, and the fielded headed out on slick tyres. Slater’s first flying lap on those was a 1m33.975s, and he led Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett. AIX Racing’s Javier Sgagrera and then Sharp held second, and with eight minutes remaining MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti moved ahead with a 1m33.722s.

Two minutes later drivers were lapping in the 1m32s, and Ugochukwu led Slater. With a two-and-a-half minutes left on the clock Jenzer’s Christian Ho posted a 1m32.096s, but that was almost immediately beaten by a 1m31.969s from Boya.

Rodin’s Roman Bilinski went third fastest in the final minute, and after the chequered flag Boya posted an unbeatable 1m31.281s. Carrasquedo got within 0.137s of him, and VAR’s Theophile Nael improved to fifth.

Morning session results