Ugo Ugochukwu, driver for Campos Racing, has successfully closed the first day of FIA Formula 3 testing, held at the Red Bull Ring circuit, with the best time among all participants.
The American driver clocked a time of 1m20.368s, which allowed him to stay in the lead, closely followed by Tuukka Taponen from MP Motorsport, who was just 0.078 seconds behind.
The morning session started slow before the drivers returned to the track, with James Wharton from Prema setting the initial record at 1m30.918s. The first red flag was caused by Kanato Le from ART, who lost control of his vehicle at turn 7, just after Brad Benavides from AIX had set the best time at 1m21.870s.
After the tests were reactivated, Louis Sharp, another Prema driver, took the temporary lead with a time of 1m20.755s. However, a new red flag appeared with an hour remaining when José Garfias had an incident at the last corner.
With the tests restored, the drivers improved their times. Benavides was the first to take command but was soon surpassed by Freddie Slater from Trident, and finally by Ugochukwu, who reaffirmed his dominance with the best time of the day despite not lowering his record in the afternoon.
The afternoon session began with Taito Kato from ART establishing an impressive initial triplet. Following a brief red flag caused by Noah Stromsted from Trident, Hitech’s Jin Nakamura began to show great pace, setting a time of 1m21.326s.
Throughout much of the afternoon, the focus was on long laps until the last hour, when Stromsted marked the best time of the moment with 1m20.451s, accompanied by his teammates Slater and Matteo De Palo. In the final phase, Nicola Lacorte managed to climb to third place with a time of 1m20.932s.
Despite a time of 1m21.142s in the afternoon session, the high morning time allowed Ugochukwu to maintain the top position of the day, with Taponen and Stromsted completing the podium. Brando Badoer from Rodin Motorsport also stood out with the fifth-best overall time of the day.
Results Day 1
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Campos Racing | 1m20.368s | 60 | |
| 2 | Tuukka Taponen | MP Motorsport | 1m20.441s | +0.073s | 66 |
| 3 | Noah Stromsted | Trident | 1m20.451s | +0.083s | 66 |
| 4 | Freddie Slater | Trident | 1m20.499s | +0.131s | 50 |
| 5 | Brando Badoer | Rodin Motorsport | 1m20.675s | +0.307s | 69 |
| 6 | Brad Benavides | AIX Racing | 1m20.749s | +0.381s | 61 |
| 7 | Louis Sharp | Prema Racing | 1m20.755s | +0.387s | 61 |
| 8 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m20.789s | +0.421s | 68 |
| 9 | Pedro Clerot | Rodin Motorsport | 1m20.902s | +0.534s | 72 |
| 10 | Nicola Lacorte | DAMS | 1m20.932s | +0.564s | 55 |
| 11 | Jin Nakamura | Hitech | 1m20.975s | +0.607s | 62 |
| 12 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 1m21.005s | +0.637s | 68 |
| 13 | James Wharton | Prema Racing | 1m21.031s | +0.663s | 61 |
| 14 | Bruno del Pino | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m21.050s | +0.682s | 63 |
| 15 | Maciej Gladysz | ART Grand Prix | 1m21.064s | +0.696s | 70 |
| 16 | Alessandro Giusti | MP Motorsport | 1m21.074s | +0.706s | 66 |
| 17 | Gerrard Xie | DAMS | 1m21.141s | +0.773s | 70 |
| 18 | Ernesto Rivera | Campos Racing | 1m21.141s | +0.773s | 61 |
| 19 | Nhirom Bhirombhakdi | DAMS | 1m21.244s | +0.876s | 70 |
| 20 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | 1m21.251s | +0.883s | 70 |
| 21 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | 1m21.281s | +0.913s | 70 |
| 22 | Mattia Colnaghi | MP Motorsport | 1m21.312s | +0.944s | 51 |
| 23 | Theophile Nael | Campos Racing | 1m21.388s | +1.020s | 61 |
| 24 | Michael Shin | Hitech | 1m21.405s | +1.037s | 58 |
| 25 | Fionn McLaughlin | Hitech | 1m21.424s | +1.056s | 62 |
| 26 | Enzo Deligny | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m21.483s | +1.115s | 63 |
| 27 | Yevan David | AIX Racing | 1m21.648s | +1.280s | 72 |
| 28 | Fernando Barrichello | AIX Racing | 1m21.693s | +1.325s | 76 |
| 29 | Jose Garfias | Prema Racing | 1m21.766s | +1.398s | 62 |
| 30 | Gino Trappa | Rodin Motorsport | 1m21.944s | +1.576s | 73 |
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_c05cc9699f435cc41ab6630764f1e19949916056