Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov laid down a marker by topping both test sessions at Jerez for Eurocup-3’s winter series.
Last year there was a non-championship event at Motorland Aragon in March, and for 2025 that has been expanded into a a three-round schedule which awards points seperately to the main season which begins in May.
Tsolov, the 2022 Spanish Formula 4 champion, has claimed two poles and three podiums from his 14 Eurocup-3 races over the last two years but has been focused primarily on racing in Formula 3.
He is one of six drivers in Campos Racing’s line-up for the new winter series, alongside FIA F3 podium-finisher Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, Jesse Carrasquedo Jr, French F4 race-winner and Red Bull junior Jules Caranta, 2023 Formula Winter Series and Italian F4 champion Kacper Sztuka and F4 graduate Francisco Macedo.
Inthraphuvasak was second fastest in both of the two-hour sessions, and was 0.28 seconds slower than Tsolov.
Ernesto Rivera, currently 10th in Formula Regional Middle East and competing in that championship at Dubai Autodrome this weekend, will take over Tsolov’s car for round two at Algarve. Their fellow Red Bull junior Enzo Tarnvanichkul, who was 12th in Spanish F4 last year as a single-seater rookie, will then drive it in round three at Aragon.
MP Motorsport’s Alexander Abkhazava and Palou Motorsport’s Luciano Morano, both Eurocup-3 sophomores, were third and fourth fastest in session one but failed to improve later in the day and dropped to 10th and 11th in the overall classification. Six other drivers set their personal best laptimes in the first session.
James Egozi jumped from eighth to third by setting a 1m37.318s in session two, and the Palou driver prevented Campos from locking out the top four places.
Maciej Gladysz was sixth behind Carrasquedo and Caranta, and pipped his MP team-mate Enzo Fittipaldi by 0.027s. Reigning Spanish F4 champion Mattia Colnaghi (MP) was eighth, narrowly faster than F4 Central European Zone champion Oscar Wurz (Drivex School).
Entered into this weekend but not driving on Friday was Brazilian F4 champion Matheus Comparatto, who is set to race for MP.
A second covered the top 13 on pace in testing, with drivers going straight into qualifying on Saturday morning.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nikola Tsolov | Campos Racing | 1m36.964s | 57 | |
| 2 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | Campos Racing | 1m37.244s | +0.280s | 54 |
| 3 | James Egozi | Palou Motorsport | 1m37.318s | +0.354s | 69 |
| 4 | Jesse Carrasquedo Jr | Campos Racing | 1m37.353s | +0.389s | 50 |
| 5 | Jules Caranta | Campos Racing | 1m37.360s | +0.396s | 58 |
| 6 | Maciej Gladysz | MP Motorsport | 1m37.514s | +0.550s | 53 |
| 7 | Emmo Fittipaldi | MP Motorsport | 1m37.541s | +0.577s | 43 |
| 8 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 1m37.637s | +0.673s | 46 |
| 9 | Oscar Wurz | Drivex School | 1m37.689s | +0.725s | 74 |
| 10 | Alexander Abkhazava | MP Motorsport | 1m37.794s | +0.830s | 61 |
| 11 | Luciano Morano | Palou Motorsport | 1m37.825s | +0.861s | 61 |
| 12 | Andres Cardenas | MP Motorsport | 1m37.835s | +0.871s | 49 |
| 13 | Kacper Sztuka | Campos Racing | 1m37.931s | +0.967s | 63 |
| 14 | Preston Lambert | Drivex School | 1m38.129s | +1.165s | 66 |
| 15 | Francisco Macedo | Campos Racing | 1m38.286s | +1.322s | 60 |
| 16 | Juan Cota | Drivex School | 1m38.306s | +1.342s | 62 |
| 17 | Adam Hideg | Palou Motorsport | 1m38.385s | +1.421s | 60 |
| 18 | Isaac Barashi | Palou Motorsport | 1m38.514s | +1.550s | 63 |
| 19 | Lenny Ried | Drivex School | 1m38.640s | +1.676s | 64 |
| 20 | Linus Hellberg | Allay Racing | 1m38.773s | +1.809s | 75 |
| 21 | Lorenzo Castillo | Sainteloc Racing | 1m38.860s | +1.896s | 46 |
| 22 | Victoria Blokhina | Drivex School | 1m38.915s | +1.951s | 64 |
| 23 | Emil Hellberg | Allay Racing | 1m39.498s | +2.534s | 77 |
| 24 | Cristian Cantu | Global Racing Service | 1m39.508s | +2.544s | 69 |
| 25 | Alceu Feldmann Neto | Palou Motorsport | 1m40.202s | +3.238s | 68 |