Beganovic fastest for PREMA Racing on final day of Jerez post-season test

Dino Beganovic ended the first post-season test as the quickest driver in the field, setting the fastest lap of the Jerez test for PREMA Racing. The Swede’s 1:29.900 was the best time over the two days of on-track action, narrowly quicker than Gabriele Minì in the morning session.

In the afternoon, Martinius Stenshorne led the way for Hitech Pulse-Eight, setting the fastest time of the session early on with a 1:31.717. Luke Browning followed in the #16 Hitech Pulse-Eight car with Charlie Wurz ending the day third for Jenzer Motorsport.

MORNING

Meaningful running started immediately, with PREMA Racing heading the queue out on track as soon as the light went green. Oliver Goethe carried on his Day 1 form to lead early on, setting a 1:31.379 in his Campos Racing #23 car inside the opening 10 minutes.

Minì lowered that to go to the top with a 1:30.867 after the first 15-minute flurry of on-track action. Mari Boya and Beganovic slotted into second and third respectively.

After a brief spell in the garage, the times continued to tumble as Beganovic lowered his best effort to a 1:30.100 to go fastest of all. The Swede then shaved off another 0.015s to improve his fastest until Boya became the first into the 1:29s with a 1:29.950.

Another brief respite and spell in the pits ended with 45 minutes of the morning gone as most of the field returned to the track on fresh tyres.

Minì and then Beganovic took over P1, going into the 29s also, with the latter setting a 1:29.900 to lead the way. Boya remained third unable to better his earlier time with Leonardo Fornaroli moving up to fourth ahead of Goethe in fifth.

The first Red Flag of the day came with just under an hour and 45 minutes left after Ugo Ugochukwu ran into the gravel at Turn 5. His Rodin Carlin #22 car was cleared quickly, and the session resumed though the track remained relatively quiet.

Into the final hour of morning running and things gradually became busier, though the order remained stable with long runs very much the focus.

With 30 minutes to go, a second Red Flag came following a spin for Luke Browning at Turn 8. The Hitech Pulse-Eight #16 was recovered and running resumed with 25 minutes to go.

One final Red Flag was thrown with just four minutes left to run after Callum Voisin came to a halt in the #21 Rodin Carlin, bringing a premature end to the morning’s running.

AFTERNOON

Stenshorne hit the ground running in the afternoon, setting a 1:31.717 to lead the way in his #14 Hitech Pulse-Eight car ahead of Browning and Wurz.

Matias Zagazeta and Max Esterson followed, 0.393 and 0.413s down on the best time to put all three Jenzer Motorsport cars inside the top five in the early stages of the session.

Van Amersfoort Racing kept their trio of drivers busy, with Tommy Smith, Sophia Floersch and Noel Leon all reaching 29 laps on the board to lead the lap count by a comfortable margin with an hour and 45 minutes to go.

Arvid Lindblad became the first driver to break the 30-lap barrier with little over an hour remaining of the day. The PREMA Racing driver moved onto 32 before returning to the pits as track temperatures reached 41°C.

The first Red Flag of the afternoon arrived with 26 minutes of the session to go. Tim Tramnitz became stuck in the gravel after a spin at Turn 3. His MP Motorsport #11 car was recovered, and the session resumed for the final 21 minutes of the test.

There were a few late improvements, but nobody displaced Stenshorne from the top of the times for the afternoon before the chequered flag.

2023 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - JEREZ POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION

2023 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - JEREZ POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, AFTERNOON SESSION