Nael heads Campos 1-2-3 in FIA F3 Barcelona practice

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Theophile Nael headed a Campos 1-2-3 in FIA Formula 3’s Barcelona practice session, with team-mate Ugo Ugochukwu pipping Ernesto Rivera to second place

Having run pre-season testing at the circuit just a few months prior, early track action was limited with teams already having significant amounts of data at their disposal.

AIX Racing’s Fernando Barichello went fastest early on with a 1m30.655s becoming the benchmark for the drivers to beat.

It wasn’t long though before faster times began to pop onto the board, ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato going fastest with a 1m29.103s before Monaco pole-sitter Nael beat his time, setting a 1m28.422s.

Tucking in behind him were his two team-mates: championship leader Ugochukwu 0.233 seconds off his teammate while Rivera completed a Campos 1-2-3.

With five minutes remaining, no real improvements materialised with drivers remaining on the same set of tyres to practice long race-run simulations.

MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Guisti finished up fourth with Kato completing the top five. Monaco feature race winner Brando Badoer was sixth.

At the chequered flag the Campos trio had tallied the fewest laps of all, each one short of reaching double figures with Noah Stromsted the only other driver to do fewer than 10 laps.

Kanato Le tucked in behind Badoer in his ART while behind him came Stromsted, Mattia Colnaghi and Bruno Del Pino.

Taking to the track for the first time in an FIA F3 car, AIX’s Ricardo Escotto propped up the rear of the field, 2.3s adrift of the leaders.

Practice results