Rafael Camara back on top in Barcelona F3 practice

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

FIA Formula 3 Championship leader Rafael Camara set the early pace in Barcelona as he topped free practice.

The Brazilian’s lap of 1m29.024s early in the session was enough to keep the rest of the field at arms length as he looks to recover from a poor round in Monaco.

With the drivers already having tested in Barcelona three months prior, running in the early stages of the session was minimal.

With 30 minutes left of the session, all drivers returned to the track.

The Campos Racing trio set the early pace with Mari Boya leading team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Nikola Tsolov, only to be bettered by Camara.

Trident, the team leading the championship by 38 points, was once again looking strong. With Camara topping the time sheets, team-mates Charlie Wurz and Noah Stromsted sat in seventh and 11th, six tenths off.

With 10 minutes remaining, the vast majority of drivers found themselves in the pitlane again, comfortable with their track time.

Traffic was once again an issue with drivers struggling to find clear air, and Noel Leon having to take evasive action heading into turn 9. Inthraphuvasak was another driver to struggle with traffic, losing time on his final lap that prevented him from improving on his seventh place time.

Drivers were also seemingly struggling with track limits, most notably in the second sector of turn 9 and 10. Louis Sharp was one of the many drivers to run wide out of turn 9; the Kiwi sent momentarily airborne by the sausage kerbs on the outside of the corner.

Alessandro Giusti was another driver to struggle into turn 9, the Frenchman required to take to the escape road after a big dose of oversteer on his final lap.

As the chequered flag fell Camara remained top of the timesheets with Giusti second, three tenths off.

Despite having pitted with 10 minutes remaining and opted not to return to the track, Boya off the back of an impressive weekend in Monaco was third, with Campos the only team to have all three cars in the top ten: Inthraphuvusak was seventh while teammate Nikola Tsolov was tenth.

Charlie Wurz was fourth ahead of Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne. Tim Tramnitz, second to Camara in the championship, found himself sixth ahead of Inthraphuvusak and Voisin in eighth. Santiago Ramos and Nikola Tsolov rounded out the top 10, all of whom were within seven tenths of Camara up front.

Free practice results