Collet ends Barcelona Formula 3 in-season test on top

The MP Motorsport driver clocked a best time of 1m31.507s during Saturday’s morning session while undertaking a qualifying simulation.

Collet’s time put the Brazilian Alpine Academy racer 0.317s clear of his nearest rival and team-mate Alexander Smolyar, while Van Amersfoort Racing’s Franco Colapinto was third fastest, having logged the most mileage on the day with a 106 laps in the books.

Saturday morning provided the quickest times across the two days of running at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Bahrain race winner Isack Hadjar was fourth fastest, seventh thousandths shy of Collapinto, and less than a tenth quicker than Trident’s Roman Stanek, as Friday pacesetter Gregoire Saucy rounded out the top six. 

After an incident free opening three hour session, times were significantly slower in the afternoon session as drivers and teams focussed on race simulations.

Jenzer Motorsport’s William Alatalo ended the afternoon running on top courtesy of a 1m34.488s effort, 0.487s faster than the next best lap time from Campos Racing’s Josep Maria Marti.

Prema Racing’s Arthur Leclerc was third fastest ahead of Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing) Prema’s Oliver Bearman and Mercedes DTM driver David Schumacher, who received a late call-up to replace Ayrton Simmons at Charouz Racing System. The reason for the driver switch remains unclear at this stage.   

Gregoire Saucy, ART Grand Prix

Saucy topped Friday’s running for ART Grand Prix, with the rookie beating Bahrain poleman Colapinto and his Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Victor Martins.  

The Swiss driver set a 1m32.247s during the morning session to go top by 0.155s.  

Fellow rookie Zane Maloney finished in fourth place overall, with team-mate Stanek in fifth. 

There were two red flags early in the day, with Hadjar coming to a standstill at Turn 2 in his Hitech-run car around the halfway mark before ART’s Matteo Nannini stopped at Turn 10 later on. 

MP Motorsport’s Smolyar led the afternoon’s running, setting a 1m33.342s to finish ahead of team-mate Collet and Stanek. 

This was the second in-season test for F3, with two days of testing taking place last week at Jerez. 

Prema Racing’s Arthur Leclerc set the fastest time across that test, with Martins in second just over 0.01s behind. 

Hadjar was third quickest, with Colapinto in fourth and Oliver Rasmussen in fifth in his first F3 outing of the year. 

F3 returns alongside FIA Formula 2 in Imola to support there Formula 1 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from 22-24 April.

Results to follow