Tsolov sets early pace in Silverstone F3 practice

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov set the pace in Formula 3 practice at Silverstone, the Red Bull junior almost 0.3 seconds clear of the rest of the field.

Most drivers decided to return to the pitlane following the virtual safety car test at the beginning of the session. DAMS driver Nicola Lacorte, returning from his race ban, posted an early benchmark of 1m49.859s to lead his team-mate Christian Ho.

After ten minutes, drivers returned to track, and times began to drop rapidly. Trident’s Charlie Wurz went to the top of the timesheet ot the 30-minute mark with a 1m47.120s but was quickly topped by Santiago Ramos, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver registering a 1m47.049s.

ART Grand Prix’s James Wharton, winner of last weekend’s sprint race in Austria, briefly found himself at the top before Campos’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak took displaced him with a 1m46.743s.

Track limits appeared to be an issue as many drivers were shown black and white flags for running wide on the exit of Copse corner.

MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti found his lap time of a 1m46.739s – which was initially good enough for second overall – deleted having run wide out of the final turn. The French driver’s second lap which placed him in the top ten would also be deleted for exceeding track limits at Copse.

Inthrapuvasak remained in first place until eight minutes to go, when Tsolov went fastest with a 1m46.563s before being beaten by championship rival Tim Tramnitz who lapped 0.147s quicker.

Prema’s Ugo Ugochukwu was next to lead by setting a 1m46.277s with five minutes remaining. Tsolov wasn’t behind for long however, as a 1m45.847s was good enough for him to reclaim top spot and maintain it for the remainder of the session.

Behind him initially were Hitech GP’s Martinius Stenshrone and Wurz before Tramnitz moved ahead of the pair with a 1m46.138s. Wurz responded as the chequered flag fell to reclaim second.

Trident’s points leader Rafael Câmara finished within 0.3s of the pace in fifth and just ahead of the Hitech’s Nikita Johnson, who is skipping this weekend’s GB3 round to make his second FIA F3 appearance.

Ugochukwu slipped back to seventh, and less than half a second separated the top 10.

Free practice results