Taponen tops first afternoon of FIA F3 post-season testing at Jerez

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

MP Motorsport’s Tuukka Taponen was quickest on the first afternoon of FIA Formula 3 post-season testing at Jerez.

Seven drivers headed out straight away when the three-hour session began, with Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu first to record flying laps.

Six-and-a-half minutes in he set a 1m32.264s to lead team-mate Ernesto Rivera by over a second. Rivera improved to 1m32.477s after nine minutes, and by the time half the field had made it out Ugochukwu was pit-bound and a gap of over 1.5 seconds still remained to AIX Racing’s Yevan David in third. He improved 16 minutes in to 1m33.250s.

When the top two’s pace was finally challenged, it was by Campos team-mate Theophile Nael, who got within 0.152s of Ugochukwu’s benchmark then did not improve again.

ART Grand Prix’s drivers only headed out after 23 minutes, as the first long runs began for others, with DAMS’ trio waiting 38 minutes before exiting the pits. Hitech GP left it longest, sending two cars out late in the first hour then keeping Fionn McLaughlin in until the 70-minute mark.

When he eventually posted his first flying lap, a 1m33.512s, he slotted into eighth and soon only he and Campos’s drivers were on track.

Prior to that, Rivera had responded to Nael’s personal best by pipping him by 0.006s and after 30 minutes AIX Racing’s Fernando Barrichello and ART GP’s Maciej Gladysz became the next drivers to break into the 1m33s.

David improved to 1m32.946s and then to 1m32.826s following that, but Campos remained untouchable an hour in.

Hitech’s Jin Nakamura rose to fifth then, getting down to 1m33.128s before McLaughlin first headed out. After his stellar first effort, McLaughlin posted a 1m33.361s on his second flying lap.

Only Rivera and Nael were active approaching the halfway point and Rivera struck trouble, triggering a short red flag period.

The track became busier later in hour two, and with 68 minutes remaining Prema’s James Wharton and Louis Sharp both set 1m32.772s to go fourth and fifth, as team-mate Enzo Deligny rose to ninth.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi improved four times in his run but was ninth entering the last hour.

ART GP’s Taito Kato broke into the 1m32s with 55 minutes to go, going seventh fastest, and 12 minutes later Trident’s Noah Stromsted — who was ninth — triggered a second brief red flag period.

At the restart, the majority of drivers headed out. MP’s morning pacesetter Alessandro Giusti quickly went second fastest, getting within 0.03s of Ugochukwu.

Rodin Motorsport’s Christian Ho lapped 0.015s shy of Ugochukwu with 24 minutes left, as team-mate Brando Badoer jumped to eighth and Trident’s Freddie Slater set a 1m32.716s in sixth.

Most were now back in the pits, and VAR’s Bruno del Pino and Yamakoshi utilised clear air to take turns in sixth place. Hitech’s Michael Shin went seventh before pitting, and with 10 minutes to go a flurry of improvements came in.

Trident’s Matteo De Palo was briefly fifth before MP’s Mattia Colnaghi bettered him, then Taponen laid down a 1m31.980s benchmark. Giusti instantly got within 0.121s of it, and DAMS’ Gerrard Xie flew up the order to be 0.215s behind in third. Colnaghi improved again on his next lap to return to sixth, 0.273s off the top, and David went seventh fastest.

The final change to the top 10 came six minutes from the end as Sharp went eighth with a 1m32.383s, and the track was soon quiet again. A second covered the top 26.

Afternoon session results