Tsolov sweeps opening day of running in Barcelona test

15 October 2024

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov was in strong form on Day 1 of post-season test in Barcelona, leading the way in the morning session with a 1:27.866 before also setting the pace in the afternoon by over half a second to the rest of the field.

MORNING

Installation laps got the day underway before Campos’ Tsolov set the early benchmark time of a 1:27.866 to lead Mari Boya by 0.175s on an empty circuit.

The track did get busier as we approached the end of the first hour, but no one could match Tsolov and Boya’s times, although MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz went closest in P3, 0.289s off P1.

As the action ramped up, the drivers were forced back into the pit lane after the Red Flags were waved, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Ivan Domingues having gone off at Turn 3.

After a 15-minute halt in proceedings, the drivers returned to the track with an hour and a half left in the morning’s session.

The order did not change much for the next hour until PREMA Racing’s Noel León went to second, completing a lap of 1:28.005 to end up 0.137s off Tsolov’s time.

There were no further improvements in the morning, bringing an end to a busy session in which Tsolov wound up fastest having done 41 laps – the most alongside Boya, who ended up in P3.

Rafael Câmara was the fastest rookie in both the morning and afternoon sessions

AFTERNOON

It was a busy start to the afternoon as several drivers went for push laps straight away, as Rodin Motorsport’s Freddie Slater became the early pacesetter on a 1:29.078 – 0.477s ahead of Louis Sharp.

However, he was quickly demoted to P2 by Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Martinius Stenshorne, who went to P1 on a 1:29.018.

The top of the leaderboard was not troubled for the next 90 minutes as for many, the focused shifted to high fuelled long runs. As we entered into the final hour, Rafael Câmara completed a lap of 1:28.891 to go fastest.

However, the Trident driver was pushed down to second minutes later when Tsolov returned to the top. The Bulgarian’s 1:28.370 meant he eclipsed Camara’s time by over half a second.

Boya and Charlie Wurz also moved up the order as they went to fourth and fifth respectively, but in the 45 minutes of running that followed there were no major changes to the timesheets.

That brings an end to Day 1 in Barcelona, running will resume for the second and final day of testing in Barcelona at 09:00 local time.

2024 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION

Position	Driver	Licence	Team	Time	Laps
1	Nikola Tsolov	BGR	Campos Racing	1:27.866	41
2	Noel León	MEX	PREMA Racing	1:28.005	28
3	Mari Boya	ESP	Campos Racing	1:28.041	41
4	Rafael Câmara	BRA	Trident	1:28.116	18
5	Tim Tramnitz	DEU	MP Motorsport	1:28.155	26
6	Ugo Ugochukwu	USA	PREMA Racing	1:28.225	27
7	Joshua Dufek	AUT	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1:28.322	23
8	Noah Stromsted	DEN	Campos Racing	1:28.323	21
9	Martinius Stenshorne	NOR	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1:28.331	22
10	James Wharton	AUS	ART Grand Prix	1:28.429	38
11	Javier Sagrera	ESP	AIX Racing	1:28.470	26
12	Bruno Del Pino	ESP	MP Motorsport	1:28.509	28
13	Brando Badoer	ITA	PREMA Racing	1:28.511	29
14	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	THA	Campos Racing	1:28.629	36
15	Laurens van Hoepen	NLD	ART Grand Prix	1:28.647	32
16	Matías Zagazeta	PER	Jenzer Motorsport	1:28.673	22
17	Freddie Slater	GBR	Rodin Motorsport	1:28.727	22
18	Alessandro Giusti	FRA	MP Motorsport	1:28.764	30
19	Christian Ho	SGP	Jenzer Motorsport	1:28.866	22
20	John Bennett	GBR	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:28.917	32
21	Roman Bilinski	GBR	Rodin Motorsport	1:28.921	20
22	Charlie Wurz	AUT	Trident	1:29.033	19
23	Louis Sharp	NZL	Rodin Motorsport	1:29.051	21
24	Ivan Domingues	POR	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:29.070	24
25	Theophile Nael	FRA	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:29.139	30
26	Jesse Carrasquedo	MEX	AIX Racing	1:29.146	28
27	Gerrard Xie	CHN	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1:29.173	24
28	Tuukka Taponen	FIN	ART Grand Prix	1:29.299	36
29	Nicola Lacorte	ITA	Jenzer Motorsport	1:29.583	22
30	Jose Garfias	MEX	AIX Racing	1:30.242	25

2024 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION

Position	Driver	Licence	Team	Time	Laps
1	Nikola Tsolov	BGR	Campos Racing	1:28.370	21
2	Rafael Camara	BRA	Trident	1:28.891	33
3	Martinius Stenshorne	NOR	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1:29.018	54
4	Mari Boya	ESP	Campos Racing	1:29.022	22
5	Charlie Wurz	AUT	Trident	1:29.059	38
6	Freddie Slater	GBR	Rodin Motorsport	1:29.078	35
7	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ESP	Campos Racing	1:29.160	20
8	Matías Zagazeta	PER	Jenzer Motorsport	1:29.182	41
9	Bruno Del Pino	ESP	MP Motorsport	1:29.192	40
10	Tim Tramnitz	DEU	MP Motorsport	1:29.202	31
11	Joshua Dufek	AUT	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1:29.289	54
12	Alessandro Giusti	FRA	MP Motorsport	1:29.393	39
13	Laurens van Hoepen	NLD	ART Grand Prix	1:29.393	40
14	John Bennett	GBR	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:29.395	37
15	Christian Ho	SGP	Jenzer Motorsport	1:29.438	36
16	Ivan Domigues	POR	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:29.451	37
17	Roman Bilinski	GBR	Rodin Motorsport	1:29.530	35
18	Louis Sharp	NZL	Rodin Motorsport	1:29.555	35
19	Theophile Nael	FRA	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:29.726	38
20	Ugo Ugochukwu	USA	PREMA Racing	1:29.739	34
21	Gerrard Xie	CHN	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1:29.908	53
22	Tuukka Taponen	FIN	ART Grand Prix	1:29.909	38
23	James Wharton	AUS	ART Grand Prix	1:30.015	38
24	Nicola Lacorte	ITA	Jenzer Motorsport	1:30.171	38
25	Brando Badoer	ITA	PREMA Racing	1:30.422	37
26	Javier Sagrera	ESP	AIX Racing	1:30.520	37
27	Noel León	MEX	Van Amersfoort Racing	1:30.528	35
28	Jesse Carresquedo	MEX	AIX Racing	1:31.001	31
29	Noah Stromsted	DEN	Trident	1:32.198	50
30	Jose Garfias	MEX	AIX Racing	1:32.868	47