Home Featured Stanek fastest in final F3 test session as sandstorm hits Bahrain

Stanek fastest in final F3 test session as sandstorm hits Bahrain

by Bethonie Waring

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Trident’s Roman Stanek topped the final FIA Formula 3 test session at Bahrain as a sandstorm brought an early end to the day.

Even after the storm hit the circuit, laptimes continued to drop but Stanek couldn’t match the time set by Isack Hadjar in the morning session. Stanek set a 1m48.182s, improving on a laptime that had already put him top of the timesheet.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Reece Ushijima and Trident’s Zane Maloney disputed second place, with only nine thousandths of a second separating the pair. Ushijima was the faster of the two, six tenths off the pace of Stanek.

Red flags disrupted running throughout. After a few minor incidents early on that caused brief stoppages, the session was paused again with half an hour to go as the sandstorm grew more intense and drivers were instructed to turn on rain lights.

It did go green again 10 minutes later, but red flags were soon thrown again permanently due to the low visibility.

Only a handful of drivers managed to hit the 40-lap mark as the focus switched to race runs, with VAR’s Franco Colapinto setting the most laps of anyone. He had briefly been second fastest before the penultimate red flag and ended the session fourth.

Early on Campos Racing’s David Vidales had briefly held top spot with a 1m49.802s lap, but ended the day in ninth place.

Ido Cohen also was an early pacesetter and spent most of the session top of the order as drivers embarked on long runs, but dropped backwards as the field began to set flying laps again late on. He was 12th fastest, while Jenzer Motorsport team-mate William Alatalo, who had been second for most of the session, did improve to conclude the session in 10th place.

Afternoon results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Roman Stanek Trident 1m48.182s 34
2 Reece Ushijima Van Amersfoort Racing 1m48.798s +0.616s 38
3 Zane Maloney Trident 1m48.807s +0.625s 28
4 Franco Colapinto Van Amersfoort Racing 1m48.975s +0.793s 43
5 Jonny Edgar Trident 1m49.167s +0.985s 38
6 Rafael Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 1m49.200s +1.018s 41
7 Hunter Yeany Campos Racing 1m49.215s +1.033s 37
8 Kaylen Frederick Hitech GP 1m49.245s +1.063s 34
9 David Vidales Campos Racing 1m49.275s +1.093s 35
10 William Alatalo Jenzer Motorsport 1m49.287s +1.105s 24
11 Zak O’Sullivan Carlin 1m49.381s +1.199s 34
12 Ido Cohen Jenzer Motorsport 1m49.407s +1.225s 24
13 Jak Crawford Prema 1m49.584s +1.402s 31
14 Ollie Bearman Prema 1m49.598s +1.416s 33
15 Pepe Marti Campos Racing 1m49.624s +1.442s 35
16 Arthur Leclerc Prema 1m49.720s +1.538s 33
17 Brad Benavides Carlin 1m49.977s +1.795s 37
18 Enzo Trulli Carlin 1m49.996s +1.814s 37
19 Patrik Pasma Jenzer Motorsport 1m50.251s +2.069s 14
20 Kush Maini MP Motorsport 1m50.697s +2.515s 32
21 Ayrton Simmons Charouz Racing System 1m51.048s +2.866s 29
22 Nazim Azman Hitech GP 1m51.078s +2.896s 17
23 Gregoire Saucy ART Grand Prix 1m51.750s +3.568s 25
24 Isack Hadjar Hitech GP 1m51.825s +3.643s 29
25 Victor Martins ART Grand Prix 1m51.947s +3.765s 26
26 Alexander Smolyar MP Motorsport 1m52.032s +3.850s 32
27 Caio Collet MP Motorsport 1m52.064s +3.882s 26
28 Francesco Pizzi Charouz Racing System 1m52.379s +4.197s 28
29 Juan Manuel Correa ART Grand Prix 1m52.425s +4.243s 30
30 Laszlo Toth Charouz Racing System 1m54.009s +5.827s 28