Nael fastest of all for Campos Racing on final day of Barcelona post-season testing

Théophile Nael ended up fastest on the final day of Barcelona testing, setting a 1:28.398 in the morning session. In the afternoon, Taito Kato topped the order for ART Grand Prix but nobody bettered the Campos Racing driver’s effort from the morning.

MORNING

Overnight rain meant there was no real rush to get out on track, but AIX Racing’s Yevan David set the early time to beat with a 1:30.989 in the opening hour.

The Sri Lankan driver lowered his best time with an hour and 20 minutes gone, setting a 1:30.100 to lead Joseph Loake in the Hitech TGR by 1.8s.

Bruno del Pino put Van Amersfoort Racing on top as the track began to get busier. 1:30.021 shaded David’s effort by 0.079s before the VAR driver delivered another improvement to go down to a 1:29.965. Teammate Hiyu Yamakoshi then matched the Spainards time exactly to slot into second place.

Brad Benavides restored AIX to P1 as he laid down a 1:28.546 with just over an hour and 10 minutes left of the morning session.

Campos Racing’s Théophile Nael shaded Benavides’ time by 0.001s to take over the lead with under 45 minutes to go. Improvements from Freddie Slater and Ugo Ugochukwu put them third and fourth and left the top four separated by just 0.052s.

The Red Flags were out for the first time on Day 2 after Loake went off track at Turn 3.

Once the Hitech car was cleared, running resumed with just over 20 minutes remaining and the track got very busy.

Del Pino delivered another improvement to break into the top five, going 0.049s off the top spot. Another Red Flag arrived with 10 minutes to go, this time for Alessandro Giusti’s stationary MP Motorsport car at Turn 10.

The morning session got back underway and Tuukka Taponen delivered a 1:28.459 to take top spot with three minutes to go, until Nael retook P1 on a 1:28.398 in the final minute of the morning segment.

Benavides wound up third quickest ahead of Nicola Lacorte, Slater, del Pino, Ugochukwu, Ernesto Rivera, Noah Stromsted and James Wharton in P10.

Following a post-session technical inspection, Car 19 failed to provide the minimum required amount of fuel, therefore all laptimes from the morning session were subsequently deleted.

AFTERNOON

Taito Kato started the afternoon running on the front foot for ART Grand Prix, setting a 1:28.767 to lead the way in the opening half an hour of running. The PREMA Racing trio of Wharton, Enzo Deligny and Louis Sharp followed with Benavides completing the top five early on.

With long running very much the focus for the afternoon session, there was little change in the order, with Hitech TGR’s Fionn McLaughlin and Jin Nakamura moving into the top five as the session headed into the final hour.

The order remained largely the same, with Noah Stromsted moving up to second in the final 10 minutes for TRIDENT, 1.030s down on Kato’s early effort.

Kato though remained on top ahead of Stromsted, followed by the PREMA trio of Wharton, Deligny and Sharp. Nakamura was sixth ahead of Benavides and McLaughlin with De Palo in ninth, as David rounded out the top 10.

That brought an end to the Barcelona post-season test, with the third and final test set to be held in Imola next week from October 21-22.

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION

| - | Alessandro Giusti | FRA | MP Motorsport | - | - |

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, AFTERNOON SESSION