MP Motorsport second-year Caio Collet displayed his experience during a Qualifying simulation in the morning session on Day 2 of testing in Barcelona, setting the fastest time of the test overall with a 1:31.507.
The Brazilian racer was 0.317s quicker than his teammate, Alex Smolyar, who finished second, while Franco Colapinto – who topped the mileage chart for the second day in a row – was in third with a 1:31.848 for Van Amersfoort Racing.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Williams Alatalo posted a 1:34.488 to top a long-run focused afternoon session in Barcelona, beating Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí and PREMA Racing’s Arthur Leclerc.
MORNING
It was a busy final morning in Barcelona as many of the racers got stuck into some Qualifying simulations on fresh Pirelli rubber. Grégoire Saucy set the marker at 1:32.109 for ART Grand Prix under the sun in Spain.
The Swiss’ spell at the top was short-lived as Collet dropped a 1:31.507 to put himself at the top of the standings, ahead of his MP teammate, Smolyar, who was 0.317s shy of the Brazilian.
Colapinto’s one-lap speed was on display once again as the Round 1 polesitter made the top three for the second day in a row at Barcelona, setting a 1:31.848 in his VAR. The Argentine was the busiest man for the third session in a row, adding a further 51 laps to an already impressive tally of 103 from Day 1.
Hitech Grand Prix rookie Isack Hadjar is another who has shown strong short-run speed since stepping up to F3 and the Frenchman was fourth at the end of the running, just over three tenths off P1.
Trident’s Roman Stanek completed the top five, beating Saucy, who had set the fastest time on Day 1 in Barcelona. Stanek’s Trident teammates Oliver Rasmussen and Zane Maloney were seventh and eighth, ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Matteo Nannini. PREMA Racing’s Arthur Leclerc completed the top 10.
AFTERNOON
After a short-run session in the morning, the field dedicated the afternoon to race simulations, with Jenzer heading out onto the tarmac as soon as the light went green.
Alatalo set the benchmark at 1:34.488 for the Swiss side before they were joined by the ever-busy Van Amersfoort Racing trio. When the remainder of the grid left the pits and headed out onto the track, Martí jumped to second place for Campos, 0.496s off Alatalo.
Rafael Villagómez spent the majority of the session in third but was bumped down to fourth in the final few minutes by Ferrari junior Leclerc, who couldn’t quite break the 1m 35s barrier and ended up 0.580s short of Alatalo.
Villagomez did, however, end the afternoon with the highest lap count, completing a mega 58 tours of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Leclerc’s PREMA teammate, Ollie Bearman was also a late entrant to the top 10, with British Ferrari junior taking P5 with just minutes on the clock, 0.732s off the leading time.
David Schumacher finished sixth in only his fourth session back in F3 for Charouz Racing System, with the German beating Jenzer duo Federico Malvestiti and Ido Cohen by just a few hundredths.
Campos Racing’s David Vidales and the third PREMA of Jak Crawford completed a top 10 that was separated by less than a second.
The F3 racers have less than a week to wait before they get the chance to put their learnings to the test, with Round 2 in Imola starting on Friday, April 22.
