Photo: Spanish Winter Championship

MP Motorsport’s Gianmarco Pradel came out on top of a super close top five in the first qualifying session at Jarama for Eurocup-3’s winter series.

There was 80 minutes of pre-event testing on Friday, and MP’s drivers filled the top three places. Rene Lammers’ 1m24.986s earned him top spot by a scant 0.064 seconds over Pradel, and Ean Eyckmans was 0.348s off Lammers in third.

Hitech GP’s Keanu Al Azhari and Gino Trappa both set 1m25.349s to be joint fourth fastest, and Campos Racing’s Enzo Tarnvanichkul was sixth. His team-mate Alex Powell was quickest in the first session, putting him seventh overall and 0.43s off Lammers’ later benchmark. A second covered the top 19.

Qualifying took place the next day, and the 20-minute session began with 19 of the 28 drivers heading out. Pradel posted the first laptime three minutes in, a 1m32.787s, and led Eyckmans by 0.578s.

A minute later they were down in 10th and 11th. Powell lowered the pace to 1m28.624s, leading Double R Racing’s Lorenzo Campos by 0.35s and Drivex School’s Filippo Fiorentino by half a second. Bart Harrison (Double R) and Thomas Strauven (Campos) were also within a second of the pace.

Lammers was next to the top, setting a 1m24.985s to pip Eyckmans by 0.05s and Powell by 0.197s. Palou Motorsport’s James Egozi trailed by 0.41s, and was just ahead of Pradel. At this point a second covered the top 12, with 17 drivers having lapped at a representative pace while eight had still recorded no laptimes at all.

Eyckmans went quickest with a 1m24.547s six-and-a-half minutes in, putting him 0.327s ahead of the improving Lammers, 0.39s clear of Drivex’s Christopher Feghali and with a 0.52s gap to Pradel. Powell took fourth from Pradel a minute later, then on his next lap got within 0.06s of Eycckmans as most of the top half of the field pitted.

Tarnvanichkul and Double R’s Yuanpu Cui stayed out, and went third and seventh fastest respectively.

Hitech GP’s Stefan Bostandjiev jumped to fifth with five minutes remaining and improved again on his next lap to 1m24.923s. By that point everyone had set flying laps, and team-mate Santino Panetta was up into seventh.

Pradel was down in eighth, but with three-and-a-half minutes remaining posted a 1m24.357s to clinch pole. Hitech’s Keanu Al Azhari quickly lapped 0.099s shy of the new benchmark, and Fiorentino was 0.106s off Pradel when he crossed the line.

Lammers, Palou’s Rafael Perard, Egozi and Feghali improved in sixth, eighth, ninth and 10th respectively, while Powell and Tarnvanichkull stayed fifth and seventh with personal bests.

Al Azhari reduced Pradel’s gap to 0.042s with two minutes left, and after that third place was traded. Lammers got within 0.085s of pole, then Eyckmans was 0.044s off the fastest lap to demote Lammers to fourth.

Qualifying results

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Photo: Double R Racing

Double R Racing is fielding Yuanpu Cui, Bart Harrison and Lorenzo Campos in Eurocup-3’s main and winter series this year.

The team, formed by Kimi Raikkonen and Steve Robertson in 2004, is returning to full-time racing after a four-year break. Following the conclusion of Euroformula’s 2021 season, its only race outings have been two British Formula 4 rounds in 2023.

As a test-only team since, Double R has run drivers in single-seaters at circuits across Britain. Its sister company Fine Moments operated W Series’ fleet of Formula Regional cars until 2022.

For its racing return in Eurocup-3, which has switched from FRegional cars to the new third-tier Dallara 326 chassis with TOM’S-developed 1.6-litre turbocharged Toyota engines, Double R will field three drivers.

Former Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Cui began 2026 by coming ninth in FRegional Oceania. His best result was fourth, in contrast to his points-free 2025 outings in FRegional’s European and Middle East championships, and the 18-year-old was 18th in GB3 last year as a part-timer.

Harrison has a podium from his two-round venture into GB3, but has primarily raced in F4 since 2024. A race-winning cameo put the 18-year-old 10th in F4 Central European Zone last year, he was seventh in Formula Winter Series’ standings, made the podium en route to 14th in Italian F4 and was 20th in British F4.

Campos, 16, represented Angola in the 2024 Motorsport Games F4 Cup and went points-free in Spanish F4’s main and winter championships in 2025.

“This is a good line-up to get us back into racing, and we are hoping to work with the drivers for some good results this season,” said Double R’s team principal Anthony Hieatt.

“Since leaving full-time racing at the end of 2021, we spent two years working on the cars used in the film F1: The Movie, and throughout this period we have done some extensive testing with our F4 and Formula 3 cars. We’ve probably been the busiest race team in Europe without actually doing any racing! As a group, we’ve been doing around 100 test days a year.”

Double R has a long history racing Dallara chassis, and ran Mike Conway to the 2006 British F3 title and Macau Grand Prix victory in a Dallara F306.

“The fact that this is a championship with fresh Dallaras meant that this was a good time to come back racing,” added Hieatt. “And it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to compete against some of the new powerhouses in single-seater racing like Hitech, Campos Racing and MP Motorsport. In our old days we never shied away from competing against Prema and Carlin. We really look forward to working with the Eurocup-3 organisers, who have made us feel very welcome.”

The team’s testing activities mean its personnel are all in place to transfer back into a racing environment.

“We’ve got a really experienced group of people who have been connected to the team for a period of years,” said Hieatt. “Everybody’s looking forward to the challenge.”

The post Double R Racing’s line-up for racing return in Eurocup-3 revealed appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Palou Motorsport

Eurocup-3’s new era with the Dallara 326 chassis began as its winter series got underway at the Algarve circuit, where James Egozi claimed the first two wins before Keanu Al Azhari seized the points lead.

After Ean Eyckmans topped both of Thursday’s collective test sessions for MP Motorsport, Alpine junior Al Azhari set the pace for Hitech GP in Friday’s test sessions, leading the first one by 0.32 seconds over team-mate Gino Trappa and the second by 0.259s ahead of Campos Racing’s Alex Powell.

Eyckmans claimed pole in qualifying on Saturday morning by 0.057s over compatriot and former Spanish Formula 4 rival Thomas Strauven of Campos. Powell was third ahead of Rene Lammers and Egozi, with Al Azhari only eighth behind fellow GB3 converts Gianmarco Pradel and Patrick Heuzenroeder.

When the lights went out, both Eyckmans and Powell failed to get away properly. That allowed Strauven to lead from Egozi, who then grabbed the lead further around the opening lap before the safety car was deployed to retrieve Trappa’s car from the Turn 4 gravel trap.

Egozi, driving for the Palou Motorsport team that has Prema engineering support, broke away from Strauven at the restart only for another safety car to be triggered by Tecnicar’s Costa Rican single-seater debutant Benjamin Beckley stopping with a puncture. Another interruption followed after Pradel tangled with Rafael Perard at the restart.

Less than eight minutes remained at the final restart, where Egozi remained ahead while Al Azhari took third from Lammers. Al Azhari then went on to grab second Strauven down the inside of Turn 4, and Lammers demoted Strauven to fourth before the end.

The top 12 from qualifying were reversed to form the grid for the shorter race two, putting Luca Viisoreanu on pole from Hector Dall’Agnol, but it was Trappa that burst through to take the lead from third on the grid, while Egozi leapt from eighth to second within the first half a lap.

After another early safety car period, Egozi immediately attacked Trappa on the restart, but the Argentine held on. Heuzenroeder slowing to a halt out of sixth caused another intervention late on, and Egozi this time got the job done to snatch the lead from Trappa before Turn 1.

Trappa then made contact with Pradel in Turn 3, damaging both cars, while Lammers was eliminated from the battle behind by a further clash later in the lap. That caused the race to finish under safety car, but not before Al Azhari came through to second past the compromised Pradel.

Al Azhari claimed pole for race three by 0.092s over Eyckmans, who got the launch at the start to take the lead, while Egozi was slow away from third and fell to the back of the field.

After just one lap, Al Azhari managed to take the lead from Eyckmans down the inside of the first corner. Any attempt by Al Azhari to pull away was halted by a safety car after his team-mates Trappa and Stefan Bostandjiev collided.

With the last 20 minutes staying under green flag conditions, Al Azhari and Eyckmans pulled away from the rest, separated by 0.869s at the chequered flag. Lammers was 6s further back after managing to keep Powell at bay for another podium finish.

Results round-up
Race 1 results (16 laps)
1 James Egozi Palou Motorsport 31m55.808s
2 Keanu Al Azhari Hitech GP +2.269s
3 Rene Lammers MP Motorsport +5.758s
4 Thomas Strauven Campos Racing +7.250s
5 Patrick Heuzenroeder Campos Racing +8.048s
6 Christopher Feghali Drivex +9.875s
7 Yani Stevenheydens GRS +10.465s
8 Enzo Tarnvanichkul Campos Racing +11.362s
9 Alceu Feldmann MP Motorsport +12.265s
10 Ean Eyckmans MP Motorsport +12.882s
Pole: Eyckmans, 1m35.656s
Fastest lap: Egozi, 1m36.210s

Race 2 (11 laps)
1 Egozi 23m45.880s
2 Al Azhari +0.397s
3 Alex Powell Campos Racing +2.464s
4 Eyckmans +2.963s
5 Stevenheydens +3.259s
6 Stefan Bostandjiev Hitech GP +4.842s
7 Strauven +5.365s
8 Feghali +6.207s
9 Tarnvanichkul +6.574s
10 Feldmann +6.743s
FL: Powell, 1m36.868s

Race 3 (18 laps)
1 Al Azhari 32m30.341s
2 Eyckmans +0.869s
3 Lammers +6.840s
4 Powell +7.533s
5 Strauven +8.990s
6 Tarnvanichkul +12.370s
7 Pradel +13.229s
8 Rafael Perard Palou Motorsport +20.538s
9 Filippo Fiorentino Drivex +22.569s
10 Heitor Dall’Agnol Palou Motorsport +23.183s
P: Al Azhari, 1m35.452s
FL: Al Azhari, 1m36.102s

Championship standings
1 Al Azhari 55   2 Egozi 36   3 Lammers 30   4 Eyckmans 28   5 Strauven 26   6 Powell 21   7 Tarnvanichkul 14   8 Stevenheydens 12   9 Feghali 11   10 Heuzenroeder 10

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Niko Lacorte left it late to top FIA Formula 3’s final pre-season test session at Barcelona, leading a DAMS one-two.

Enzo Deligny (Van Amersfoort Racing) was the pace-setter early on, leading team-mate Bruno del Pino before his other team-mate Hiyu Yamakoshi got within 0.167 seconds of his 1m30.430s.

Five teams did not record laptimes in the first half-hour, and Maciej Gladysz (ART Grand Prix) got ahead of del Pino.

More drivers headed out after, and Brando Badoer (Rodin Motorsport) posted a 1m32.108s to take top spot 38 minutes in. His team-mate Pedro Clerot went third fastest, 0.391s behind.

Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos Racing) demoted him to fourth by 0.03s before red flags waved three quarters of an hour in due to Jose Garfias (Prema) getting into trouble.

Three teams were still without laptimes, but that changed following the restart. Fernando Barrichello (AIX) lowered the pace to 1m31.688s, Ugochukwu improved in third and his team-mates entered the top 10 with their first efforts.

Theophile Nael (Campos) edged ahead of Ugochukwu by 0.075s on his next tour, but lost third shortly after as Noah Stromsted (Trident) got within 0.484s of Barrichello with his first flying lap.

Hour one of three ended with Brad Benavides (AIX), on his first flyer, going fastest by 0.115s before Freddie Slater (Trident) brought out red flags.

The restart occurred 72 minutes in, and shortly after Badoer and Yevan David (AIX) improved to 1m31.936s and 1m32.076s in third and fourth on a congesting track. Hitech GP’s drivers had now posted laptimes too.

There was no change to the top 10 until 85 minutes in, when Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport) went eighth quickest ahead of Deligny, who had not improved after topping the timesheet.

As the session’s second half began, Fionn McLaughlin (Hitech) stopped in sector three and triggered red flags.

There was 75 minutes left of the test at the next restart, and Slater posted his first laptime eight minutes later. It placed him eighth, 0.797s from the top, then team-mate Stromsted returned to third by getting within 0.144s of Benavides. There were only four cars on track, but it got busier in the final hour.

Badoer took to the front with a 1m31.473s, before Matteo De Palo (Trident) leaped from 17th to first by going 0.563s faster than anyone else. Christian Ho had risen from 22nd to sixth, but was a second off the pace.

Barcelona was at its busiest with half an hour remaining, and Tim Tramnitz (Hitech) snatched second from Badoer by 0.053s having previously been 21st. Ugochukwu improved to seventh.

Tramnitz reduced Benavides’s gap further to 0.375s with 13 minutes to go, and David set a new personal best in ninth.

The biggest change came six minutes from the end, as Lacorte and Xie jumped from 23rd and 24th to the top. Xie set a 1m30.275s, bettering Benavides by 0.635s, then Lacorte went 0.599s faster than him. The pair pitted straight after, leaving nine drivers taking the chequered flag.

Additional reporting by Ida Wood

Afternoon session results

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Photo: Palou Motorsport

James Egozi will remain with Palou Motorsport in Eurocup-3 this year after winning several races with the team last season.

The 18-year-old American did both the main championship and the winter series in 2025, with the latter kicking things off. He came third in the standings of the three-round series, taking two wins, a second place and a pole.

In the main championship he was ninth after missing the last round, and had five top-five finishes including his victory.

Egozi also did two Formula Regional European Championship rounds last year, and finished 14th in the Macau Grand Prix.

Palou has partnered with Prema for the 2026 Eurocup-3 season, with the latter providing “engineering support in multiple areas throughout the year, including the use of the Prema simulator and advanced technical tools”.

Elsewhere on the grid, Luca Viisoreanu has joined the Thibaut Courtois-owned TC Racing and Stylianos Kolovos has been signed by Drivex School.

Viisoreanu, 16, has experience of third-tier single-seaters (as Eurocup-3 moves to faster cars for 2026) through two Euroformula outings last year. A sixth place was his best result.

He primarily competed in F4 with Real Racing Team, which is run from his home country Romania. A race-winning F4 Central European Zone cameo put him 15th in the standings, while he went points-free in his E4 cameo and came 24th in Italian F4 where he missed the last round. In 2024, also with Real Racing Team, he had come 22nd in E4.

“Eurocup-3 is an important step in my career and a key season to prepare as best as possible for the future,” said Viisoreanu.

“I’m confident that TC Racing is the right environment to keep growing as a driver, and I’m excited to be part of a competitive project with clear and ambitious goals.”

Kolovos is also 16 and has Euroformula experience. The Greek made his single-seater debut in the Monza season finale, and finished ninth on his second start.

He has raced OK class karts since 2024, coming 24th in WSK’s Champions Cup, 26th in its Euro Series, 54th in the Champions of the Future series and 62nd in CIK-FIA World Championship.

Eurocup-3 will run a winter series again this year, and it starts next weekend. Kacper Sztuka has been announced as driving for Tecnicar Motorsport in the three-round series. The 20-year-old Pole came 27th in the FIA Formula 3 Championship two years ago, then stepped down to Eurocup-3 for its last season as a FRegional-based entity.

A podium from his part-time winter series campaign put him 11th in the standings, and in the main championship he was third. Sztuka won twice, claimed five other podiums and two poles. He also came 24th in FREC, which he did three rounds of.

The post Eurocup-3 race-winner James Egozi sticks with Palou Motorsport appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Campos Racing’s Theophile Nael was quickest on the final morning of FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

Early on in the three-hour session it was Noah Stromsted (Trident) who was fastest, a 1m27.620s lap putting him 0.034 seconds ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos). Freddie Slater (Trident) was third, 0.104 behind.

Nael moved into third early in the second hour, 0.085s off the top, and half a second split the top 10. Brando Badoer (Rodin Motorsport) was fifth with a 1m27.891s, ahead of Patrick Heuzenroeder (Campos), Brad Benavides (AIX Racing), Louis Sharp (Prema), Niko Lacorte (DAMS) and Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix).

On his next run, Nael improved to 1m27.525s with the fastest splits in sectors one and three to claim top spot by 0.095s. Once he pitted, the track was empty until Lacorte headed back out with 73 minutes to go.

Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport) rose from 15th to eighth with 64 minutes remaining, setting a 1m28.075s to edge ahead of Sharp by 0.01s, as only a few drivers headed out at a time.

In the final hour, teams turned their attention to long runs and pitstop practice. The final classification was set with 56 minutes to go, when Alessandro Giusti (MP) moved up from 28th to 24th and team-mate Mattia Colnaghi made a big gain that lifted him from last place but only by 0.011s over Gerrard Xie (DAMS)

Half a second split the top seven, and only Bruno del Pino (Van Amersfoort Racing), Colnaghi and Xie were over a second off the pace.

Campos’s trio and Yevan David (AIX) were the only drivers to take the chequered flag, and the most running was completed by Nael and Ugochukwu.

Additional reporting by Ida Wood

Morning session results

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Ugo Ugochukwu secured top spot on the second afternoon of FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Barcelona with a late lap to lead a Campos Racing 1-2-3.

Teams opted to focus on long runs at the start of the three-hour session, and Bruno del Pino (Van Amersfoort Racing) set the early pace. A 1m32.219s put him 0.039 seconds ahead of Theophille Nael (Campos).

With nearly an hour gone, Fernando Barrichello (AIX Racing) took over top spot with a 1m31.566s and morning pace-setter Freddie Slater (Trident) slotted into fourth, 0.751s behind.

There was usually only one team on track at a time thereon until the final hour. Slater beat Barrichello’s benchmark by 0.158s, then with 51 minutes to go Brad Benavides (AIX) pipped him by 0.017s. His time on top did not last long either as he was outpaced by all three Campos drivers.

The pace was lowered to the 1m30s, and Ugochukwu led the way with a 1m30.492s. Nael was 0.486s behind, and test-only stand-in Patrick Heuzenroeder was 0.716s adrift in third.

Eight drivers had gone sub-1m31s with half an hour to go, and Jin Nakamura (Hitech GP) was quickest. His 1m30.260s lap put him 0.162s ahead of Enzo Deligny (VAR), Ugochukwu was third and next up were the closely matched Rodin Motorsport trio of Brando Badoer, Pedro Clerot and Christian Ho.

Nakamura’s team-mates Tim Tramnitz and Fionn McLaughlin were 27th and 28th, and with 24 minutes remaining Tramnitz snatched first place by 0.012s and McLaughlin jumped to eighth. Badoer improved to be just 0.021s from the top in third.

McLaughlin climbed another spot eight minutes from the end, and three minutes later Clerot got within 0.154s of Tramnitz’s pace to occupy fourth. After a cooldown lap, McLaughlin attacked again and a 1m30.077s made him fastest by 0.171s. He was soon fourth though, as the top 10 embarked on their final flying laps.

Badoer rocketed ahead with a 1m29.153s, leading Ho by 0.164s and del Pino by 0.711s. A few seconds later Ugochukwu lowered the pace to 1m28.241s and Deligny improved to move into fourth. When Ugochukwu’s team-mates crossed the line, they slotted into second and third. Heuzenroeder went second quickest, 0.203s off, and Nael trailed by 0.414s.

The final order was locked in with four minutes to go, and red flags ended the session 78s early after Deligny stopped in sector two.

Afternoon session results

The post Late lap puts Ugochukwu on top in second afternoon of FIA F3 testing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Hitech GP has completed its 2026 GB3 line-up with the signings of Deagen Fairclough and Yuhao Fu.

Fairclough is returning to GB3 after coming third in last year’s standings and scoring a maiden victory at the Monza finale.

The 19-year-old started his car racing career driving tin-tops in Junior Saloons and BRSCC Fiesta Junior before earning a move into single-seaters by winning a ROKiT-backed Racing Star Formula 4 Esports competition.

He finished third as a rookie in British F4 in 2023 with JHR Developments, and a switch to Hitech for his sophomore season yielded a dominant title success with a record-breaking 14 wins. 

Fairclough was the recipient of the 2024 Silverstone Autosport BRDC Award, and tested an Aston Martin Formula 1 car last year as part of his prize.

“I’m really happy to be staying with Hitech for another season in GB3,” he said. “Last year taught me a lot, and I feel like we’ve built a strong base together. I’m excited to keep working with the team and to go into 2026 ready to fight for strong results.”

“Deagen made strong progress throughout his first GB3 season, and his commitment and work ethic stood out,” added Hitech’s GB3 team manager Phil Blow.  “Having continuity for a second year is a big positive, and we believe that with his experience base, he’s well positioned to take another step forward in 2026.”

Fu is stepping up to GB3 after two seasons competing in F4.

The 16-year-old made his first single-seater starts in the UAE4 and F4 South East Asia in 2023. The following year he came fourth in Chinese F4, taking two victories, and was 19th in British F4 with Virtuosi Racing.

In 2025 he took 15th in the F4 Middle East championship and was 25th in British F4 following a switch to Xcel Motorsport.

“I’m really excited to be joining Hitech for this GB3 campaign,” said Fu. “After gaining so much experience across different series, I’m looking forward to working with the team and pushing for strong results in 2026.”

The post Fairclough remains at Hitech GP for second GB3 shot appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Getty Images

Freddie Slater led a Trident one-two on the second morning of FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

He went 1.391 seconds quicker than the laptime that put him on top of day one’s timesheet, and had a 0.331s gap to second place at the conclusion of the three-hour session.

Prema’s trio were the first on track, and all drivers were keen to set down representative laptimes early on after damp conditions the previous morning.

Theophile Nael (Campos Racing) set the early pace with a 1m46.217s, over a second clear of Enzo Deligny (Van Amersfoort Racing).

The time to beat got lower and lower, and after the first 10 minutes a 1m30.084s was enough to put Louis Sharp (Prema) on top. He led Taito Kato (ART Grand Prix) by 0.184s.

As drivers completed their third set of push laps early on, Sharp was relegated to fourth. Noah Stromsted had posted a 1m28.447s to lead Trident team-mate Matteo De Palo by 1.094s, and Slater was up to third.

Improvements were made by drivers again later into hour one, which Gerrard Xie (DAMS) ended on top with a 1m27.792s. He was soon in third though as Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport) lowered the pace to 1m27.402, pipping Stromsted by 0.014s.

Approaching the session’s halfway point, Slater knocked Kato off top spot with a 1m27.020s lap that would go unbeaten. Kato’s previous benchmark was beaten by 0.297s, and he failed to improve thereon. With 81 minutes to go, Stromsted edged ahead of him by 0.009s.

Teams opted to focus on long runs for the second half of the session, and there was little change to the order. Behind the top three, Maciej Gladysz (ART GP) trailed Slater by 0.3s in fourth, and Taponen was fifth with the laptime that had put him in first place for a period of running.

Morning session results

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Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Freddie Slater set the fastest lap on the first day of FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

There were two three-hour sessions, and in the morning there was little track activity in the first 90 minutes. Theophile Nael (Campos Racing) led Kanato Le (ART Grand Prix) by 0.355 seconds with a 1m43.188s lap at that point, and only 14 drivers had recorded laptimes. Fernando Barrichello (AIX Racing) had just triggered the first red flag period on the wet track.

Ten minutes later, Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort Racing) lowered the pace by 1.252s. His team-mate Bruno del Pino then got within 0.061s of the new benchmark, but Yamakoshi improved to 1m41.9s on his next lap. Pedro Clerot (Rodin Motorsport) soon made it a top three covered by 0.098s as most drivers remained in the pits.

Taito Kato (ART GP) was next to lead the way, by 0.951s, and Christian Ho (Rodin) moved up to second but was 2.653s off the pace once Kato improved to 1m39.058s.

When Le lapped 0.831s shy of Kato with 67 minutes to go, only those two were active. Enzo Deligny (VAR) cut Kato’s advantage to 0.215s in the final hour, and the circuit remained quiet. Brando Badoer (Rodin) broke the 1m39s barrier, and had a big gap until Hitech GP’s stand-in driver Tim Tramnitz set a 1m37.188s with 43 minutes remaining.

His team-mate Jin Nakamura lowered the pace to 1m36.795s four minutes later while out alone, and there was so little track action thereon that 11 drivers ended session one sans laptimes. Barrichello meanwhile had several of his deleted due to being underfuelled.

In contrast, half of the field headed straight out in the afternoon session. Gerrard Xie (DAMS) was first to the top, then Louis Sharp (Prema), Tuukka Taponen (MP Motorsport) and Kato before the first runs ended. A 1m29.118s was the time to beat, with 0.071s splitting a top three completed by Le.

A second covered the top 17 half an hour in, with the track never overly busy. There was change at the end of hour one as Le lowered the pace to 1m28.742s, leading team-mates Kato and Gladysz by 0.232s and 0.327s respectively.

Tramnitz rose to fifth with a laptime 0.477s off Le’s best 79 minutes in, and a few minutes later Taponen got within 0.129s of Le.

Niko Lacorte (DAMS) snuck into fourth before the next runs ended approaching the session’s halfway mark, and there was drama when drivers headed back out. Deligny triggered red flags with 80 minutes to go, and before anyone could improve following the restart there was another stoppage caused by Mattia Colnaghi (MP) who was in seventh place at the time.

He was demoted a spot 53 minutes from the end as Brad Benavides (AIX) went 0.033s faster than him and 0.46s slower than Le to rise to sixth.

Kato caused the next red flag interruption, and the next improvements came in the final half-hour. Badoer went seventh quickest, and nobody above him posted personal bests for ending their runs.

There was more change with 10 minutes to go, as Ugo Ugochukwu (Campos) lapped 0.116s off Le’s long-standing benchmark and Noah Stromsted (Trident) was a further 0.066s off in fourth.

James Wharton (Prema) bettered Stromsted by 0.043s with eight minutes left of the day, and a minute later Slater posted a 1m28.411s that put him on top by 0.331s and would not be beaten.

At the same time, Sharp pipped Taponen by 0.003s for fourth before the track began to empty. A second covered the top 21.

Day one results

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