Browning fastest on final day of Sakhir pre-season testing

Luke Browning continued his fine form over the three days of pre-season testing in Sakhir as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver topped the timesheets on the final morning of running at the Bahrain International Circuit.

In the afternoon, Dino Beganovic set the pace as the PREMA Racing driver left it late in the session to clock a 1:48.285, edging out the first day’s pace-setter Noel León by 0.075s.

MORNING

Having topped the timesheets on Day 2, Browning looked to be picking up from where he left off as he set the pace early on. His time of 1:46.991 was over half a second clear of his nearest rival, which was once again MP Motorsport rookie Alex Dunne.

The Red Flags were then waved, bringing a halt to proceedings after Hitech Pulse-Eight's Cian Shields pulled over to the side of the road down the main straight.

With the track clear, the action got underway once again as Browning immediately extended his advantage at the top with a lap of 1:46.566. ART Grand Prix driver Nikola Tsolov followed him across the line and moved up to second, albeit two and a half tenths adrift of the top spot.

But with the session winding down to a close, double yellow flags were waved at Turn 9 as Tsolov stopped on track, preventing any further improvements.

At the end of the first segment of the day, Browning topped the timesheets and the lap count. The British racer completed 35 tours of the track, the same amount as PHM AIX Racing’s Joshua Dufek.

AFTERNOON

With 180 minutes left of track time before the start of the 2024 season, the drivers hurried out of the garage as Sebastián Montoya set the early benchmark. His lap of 1:49.518 was enough to eclipse Matías Zagazeta time by 0.078s.

The first Red Flag of the afternoon segment arrived after Joshua Dufek stopped at the exit of Turn 1. The focus then turned to long runs and race pace upon resumption, meaning that major improvements on the timesheets were rare.

But, with half an hour remaining on the clock, the drivers started to set the timing screens alight as they set off on faster laps. The lead changed hands on multiple occasions until the final moments of the day when Beganovic set the fastest time.

The PREMA Racing driver clocked a 1:48.285 to narrowly beat the time set by Van Amersfoort Racing rookie León. Browning followed up his morning session by finishing third in the afternoon.

That brought a close to final day of the Sakhir pre-season test. Trident’s Leonardo Fornaroli proved the busiest driver in the afternoon having completed 47 laps.

Round 1 takes place around the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir from February 29 – March 2.

2024 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - SAKHIR PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 3, MORNING SESSION

2024 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - SAKHIR PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 3, AFTERNOON SESSION