Ugochukwu leads the field on first day of Barcelona test

Campos Racing’s Ugo Ugochukwu carried on from where he left off in post-season testing, topping the opening day in Barcelona.

The American set a 1:28.322 in the opening segment to lead the pack ahead of teammate Théophile Nael, while in the afternoon, Maciej Gladysz topped the times for ART Grand Prix on a 1:29.003.

MORNING

MP Motorsport’s drivers were the first to break the 1:30 barrier, with Alessandro Giusti setting a 1:29.135 to lead the pack ahead of Tuukka Taponen and Mattia Colnaghi in the opening hour of running.

Bruno del Pino then took over at the top of the times, shading Giusti’s effort by just 0.004s to lead on a 1:29.131 for Van Amersfoort Racing.

The first Red Flag of the day came with just over an hour and 10 minutes run after Hitech TGR’s Michael Shin stopped on track at Turn 8.

Once running got back underway, Ugo Ugochukwu shot to the top of the timing screens as he set a 1:28.490 to go six-tenths clear of anyone else for Campos Racing.

TRIDENT’s Noah Stromsted cut the gap down to 0.4s as the Dane slotted into second position with an hour and 20 minutes to go.

Improvements continued as PREMA Racing drivers Louis Sharp and James Wharton improved to second and third places. The former was the closest to the lead time on a 1:28.709.

Ugochukwu then bettered his earlier lap to lower the quickest time of the morning session to a 1:28.322, with just over 45 minutes left to run.

Théophile Nael closed the gap down to his teammate as he slotted into second with over half an hour to go, 0.170s away from top spot.

Sharp remained third but improvements from the Rodin Motorsport trio put Christian Ho, Brando Badoer and Pedro Clerot fourth, fifth and sixth respectively by the chequered flag.

Wharton followed in seventh ahead of Stromsted, Del Pino and Enzo Deligny in P10.

AFTERNOON

The afternoon got started with Badoer setting a 1:29.928 to lead ahead of his Rodin teammate Ho in second. Clerot then made it an early 1-2-3 for the team, going third fastest and 0.366s down on Badoer’s benchmark.

MP then broke up the team’s hold on the top three spots, as Taponen and Giusti slotted into second and third places respectively with just over half the afternoon session to go.

Long runs were the primary focus, with little change in the running order aside from PREMA’s Sharp and Wharton going fifth and sixth with over an hour still to run.

After a brief lull, MP returned to the track and to the top of the timing screens with Taponen setting a 1:29.524, as Wharton improved to second, 0.176s down on the Finn. ART Grand Prix’s Maciej Galdysz then moved up to third place as he set a 1:29.800 soon afterwards.

He was displaced shortly after by Gerrard Xie, who moved to within 0.055s of the leading effort to go second for DAMS Lucas Oil.

With just over 20 minutes to go, the Red Flags were waiving once more as Deligny suffered a spin at Turn 3 before recovering to the pitlane, but leaving gravel on the circuit in the process.

Once the track was clear again, the session resumed with 14 minutes left to run and there were further improvements.

Gladysz took over at the top for ART on a 1:29.003, shading Ernesto Rivera in P2 by 0.067s. Ugochukwu and Nael moved themselves into P3 and P4 respectively while Taito Kato rounded out the top five on an identical time to his compatriot.

Ho followed in P6 ahead of Colnaghi, Clerot, Giusti and De Palo in the top 10 as day one came to a close.

There will be one driver change for the final day of the Barcelona test, with Joseph Loake taking over in Car 15 in place of Michael Shin at Hitech TGR. Running for Day 2 will get underway at 9:00 local time.

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION*

*Car 15 laptimes from 09:00 – 10:10 deleted for not providing minimum quantity of fuel.

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION