Trident rookie Maloney tops Day 1 of pre-season testing in Bahrain

Trident rookie Zane Maloney topped the opening day of pre-season testing in Sakhir, beating Jenzer Motorsport’s William Alatalo and PREMA Racing’s Jak Crawford.

The quickest time was set by Barbadian racer Maloney during a cooler afternoon stint, which saw the top six all break the 1m 37s barrier for the first time. Ferrari junior Arthur Leclerc had put PREMA on top in the morning session, beating Van Amersfoort Racing rookie Reece Ushijima.

MORNING

Formula 3 returned at the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday as a new-look field featuring 15 rookies headed out on the track for their first action of the year.

Roman Staněk sat at the top of the timesheets during the opening stages, but his unrepresentative time of 2:13.030 was easily beaten by Ushijima. Hitech Grand Prix’s Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar went second with his teammate Kaylen Frederick in third.

The trio remained in their positions for the best part of an hour, until in the final 30 minutes of the session, Arthur Leclerc – who was crowned Asian F3 champion during the off-season – replaced Ushijima at the top with a 1:48.005. Maloney went second shortly after, while Ushijima managed to hold on for third at the flag.

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Enzo Trulli brought the session to a slightly premature end as the Carlin driver stopped on track due to an engine issue just minutes before the chequered flag. Hadjar and Frederick completed the top five, followed by Alex Smolyar, Alatalo, Franco Colapinto, Oliver Bearman and Staněk.

MP duo Kush Maini and Caio Collet completed the most laps in the morning session, punching in 25 each.

AFTERNOON

Action resumed in the afternoon and the rookies continued to impress. Alpine Academy driver Collet initially went first and was followed by Charouz Racing System’s Ayrton Simmons.

As the laps got more competitive, ART Grand Prix rookie Gregoire Saucy jumped to the top with a 1:48.085, ahead of Charouz’s Francesco Pizzi and Red Bull junior Crawford.

There were two red flags during the session, the first caused by Staněk, who stopped at Turn 8, and the second by Patrick Pasma, in the final minutes at Turn 7.

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The 1m 48s marker was broken for the first time in the final half an hour as Maloney put Trident at the top of the order, setting a 1:47.614. Finnish first-year Alatalo was 0.169s further back in second, with Crawford completing the top three.

Staněk recovered from his earlier stoppage to make the top four, ahead of Van Amersfoort’s Colapinto. The top nine were all within half a second of each other, as Martins took sixth, ahead of Oliver Bearman and Arthur Leclerc. Saucy and Pizzi had dropped to ninth and 10th at the flag.

Pre-season testing will resume on the Bahrain International Circuit at 9am tomorrow.

2022 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP – SAKHIR PRE-SEASON TESTS, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION

2022 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP – SAKHIR PRE-SEASON TESTS, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION

NB: Juan Manuel Correa (ART Grand Prix) missed Day 1 due to an inconclusive Covid test.