Mini starts FIA F3 test on top with Hitech despite crash

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Formula Regional European Championship frontrunner Gabriele Mini started FIA Formula 3 post-season testing at Jerez with the fastest lap in the Wednesday morning session.

The Italian was on top for much of the three-hour session, but did cause a red flag stoppage after he hit the barriers at turn 10.

Initially Charouz Racing System’s Alessandro Famularo was the only driver to go out on track, with a wait of over half an hour before team-mate Emmo Fittipaldi went on a run and set laps at a more representative pace.

After 42 minutes had passed, Hitech GP’s Sebastian Montoya then set a 1m32.353s lap that put him to the top ahead of test team-mates Mini and Reece Ushijima.

There was still only a small group of drivers who had set a lap by this point, and Mini took over top spot with a 1m31.543s as Montoya improved to 1m31.635s.

That kept the pair in the top two positions until the second hour of the test, when Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti broke into the 1m30s. Mini and Montoya had improved their own pace at this point but could not match Marti, and his team-mate Francesco Pizzi rose into second place towards the session’s halfway point.

Kaylen Frederick put ART Grand Prix to the top of the times during the second half of the session, setting a 1m30.736s, with Mini two tenths behind. The second hour was interrupted by Mini’s crash, which meant red flags were waved for over 10 minutes, but the Nicolas Todt protege did also set a laptime that nobody would be able to beat through the rest of the session.

Although there were periods where almost everyone was on track in the final hour, few made laptime improvements (with all running being done on Pirelli’s hard compound tyre during the test) and the order of Mini, Frederick, Marti, Prema’s Zak O’Sullivan and Ushijima in the top five places went unchanged. Montoya also had a turn 10 crash that caused a late red flag.

There was one driver who rose up the order, as ART GP’s Gregoire Saucy went sixth fastest with 40 minutes to go.

Morning session results