Rafael Camara quickest in quiet FIA F3 practice at hot Bahrain

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Rafael Camara set the pace in a hot and quiet practice session for the FIA Formula 3 Championship at Bahrain.

All but seven drivers in the 30-car fielded headed out when the 45-minute session began, but the only one who did not immediately return to the pits was Van Amersfoort Racing’s Ivan Domingues.

He set a 2m29.905s at first, an unrepresentative effort, then improved to 1m52.776s after five laps. With an air temperature of 35C, drivers were unwilling to be on track early on and after 17 minutes it was empty as Domingues headed to the pits.

With 13 minutes left on the clock, the track became busy once more with drivers heading out on fresh sets of hard compound tyres. Domingues, MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz and Trident’s trio however stayed in their garages.

Laptimes appeared on the board with seven minutes to go, and Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov went fastest with a 1m51.111s. Rodin Motorsport’s Roman Bilinski was second after setting a 1m51.423s, and Mari Boya (Campos), Tuukka Taponen (ART Grand Prix) and Bruno del Pino (MP) also lapped sub-1m51.6s. The top 18 was covered by a second, with Domingues just outside of that group.

Nobody improved on their next lap, as those in the pits joined the action. Tramnitz went third with his first effort, and Trident’s Charlie Wurz slotted into a fourth with a 1m51.503s lap set with just under three-and-a-half minutes to go.

Moments later Camara crossed the line with an 1m50.984s effort that would prove unbeatable.

In the final two minutes Taponen rose to third, MP’s Alessandro Giusti set a 1m51.395s to take fourth place and Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu and del Pino improved with 1m51.4s laps in seventh and eighth.

VAR’s Santiago Ramos then made a big gain, a 1m51.282s putting him ahead of Giusti, and after the chequered flag Wurz set a 1m51.405s to end practice in sixth and del Pino set another new personal best in ninth.

Free practice results