Leonardo Pulcini ends Barcelona test on top

Leonardo Pulcini
Leonardo Pulcini

Leonardo Pulcini was once again quickest on Day 2 of the second FIA Formula 3 pre-season testing at Barcelona, Spain. The Italian ace from Hitech Grand Prix clocked in a time of a 1:32.222 in the morning session to top the day overall ahead of ART Grand Prix teammates Christian Lundgaard and Max Fewtrell.

The day opened on a wet circuit following overnight showers. The proceedings were halted in the very early stages after Alessio Deledda span and stopped at Turn 3. On a rapidly drying track Lundgaard set the initial pace in a 1:33.750.

On the one hour mark Teppei Natori went wide at Turn 9 and ended into the tire barrier bringing out a second red flag and his day to an early close. At the re-start Jehan Daruvala was the first man to dip under 1m33s, but it was Alex Peroni who set the fastest laptime in a 1:32.460 before three consecutive red flag periods including one courtesy of the Campos man who stopped at Turn 13.

With one hour left in the session, Lundgaard and Fewtrell moved up to P1 and P2 respectively but Pulcini found some extra pace to improve on the Dane’s time and went top. The top 3 remained unchallenged until the checkered flag. Peroni ended fourth ahead of Daruvala, Liam Lawson, Sebastian Fernandez, David Beckmann, Robert Shwartzman and Richard Verschoor.

There was a one hour break before the pitlane re-opened for the afternoon running. Pedro Piquet was the first man to feed onto the track, but it was his teammate Niko Kari who set the early pace before stopping 30 minutes into the session and bringing out a red flag.

The teams dedicated the rest of the day to long runs during which Lirim Zendeli went quickest in a 1:33.703. Forty minutes before the checkered flag, the rain started to fall on some parts of the track sending the cars back to the pits to assess the conditions and switch to wet tires.

As the session drew to a close, the rain fell even harder. At the checkered flag, the standings remained unchanged with Zendeli heading Piquet, Kari, Yuki Tsunoda, Felipe Drugovich, Jake Hughes, Bent Viscaal, Logan Sargeant, Fernandez and Fabio Scherer.

The Formula 3 paddock will now to head to Budapest where the final two-day pre-season testing will take place at the Hungaroring on April 17-18.

FIA Formula 3 Barcelona Test – Day 2 Morning Session

Pos

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Leonardo Pulcini

Hitech Grand Prix

1:32.222

48

2

Christian Lundgaard

ART Grand Prix

1:32.369

40

3

Max Fewtrell

ART Grand Prix

1:32.429

42

4

Alexander Peroni

Campos Racing

1:32.460

20

5

Jehan Daruvala

PREMA Racing

1:32.507

33

6

Liam Lawson

MP Motorsport

1:32.621

35

7

Sebastian Fernandez

Campos Racing

1:32.627

33

8

David Beckmann

ART Grand Prix

1:32.642

38

9

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:32.712

33

10

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:32.722

32

11

Simo Laaksonen

MP Motorsport

1:32.881

32

12

Jüri Vips

Hitech Grand Prix

1:32.901

41

13

Marcus Armstrong

PREMA Racing

1:32.907

33

14

Lirim Zendeli

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:33.111

45

15

Raoul Hyman

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:33.226

36

16

Ye Yifei

Hitech Grand Prix

1:33.255

42

17

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:33.286

37

18

Bent Viscaal

HWA RACELAB

1:33.296

33

19

Logan Sargeant

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:33.319

46

20

Felipe Drugovich

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:33.500

43

21

Artem Petrov

Jenzer Motorsport

1:33.523

35

22

Niko Kari

Trident

1:33.533

20

23

Yuki Tsunoda

Jenzer Motorsport

1:33.692

45

24

Fabio Scherer

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:33.722

30

25

Keyvan Andres

HWA RACELAB

1:34.211

36

26

Devlin DeFrancesco

Trident

1:34.229

30

27

Andreas Estner

Jenzer Motorsport

1:34.323

41

28

Jake Hughes

HWA RACELAB

1:34.732

15

29

Alessio Deledda

Campos Racing

1:35.009

26

30

Teppei Natori

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:36.712

6


FIA Formula 3 Barcelona Test – Day 2 Afternoon Session

Pos

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Lirim Zendeli

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:33.703

32

2

Pedro Piquet

Trident

1:33.827

44

3

Niko Kari

Trident

1:33.983

32

4

Yuki Tsunoda

Jenzer Motorsport

1:33.985

34

5

Felipe Drugovich

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:34.085

49

6

Jake Hughes

HWA RACELAB

1:34.106

22

7

Bent Viscaal

HWA RACELAB

1:34.108

32

8

Logan Sargeant

Carlin Buzz Racing

1:34.114

44

9

Sebastian Fernandez

Campos Racing

1:34.297

32

10

Fabio Scherer

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:34.558

44

11

Artem Petrov

Jenzer Motorsport

1:34.650

34

12

Alexander Peroni

Campos Racing

1:34.662

36

13

Devlin DeFrancesco

Trident

1:34.707

30

14

Keyvan Andres

HWA RACELAB

1:34.756

33

15

Raoul Hyman

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:35.096

56

16

Christian Lundgaard

ART Grand Prix

1:35.135

43

17

Richard Verschoor

MP Motorsport

1:35.235

38

18

Andreas Estner

Jenzer Motorsport

1:35.236

41

19

Simo Laaksonen

MP Motorsport

1:35.457

39

20

Max Fewtrell

ART Grand Prix

1:35.626

42

21

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:35.712

47

22

Jüri Vips

Hitech Grand Prix

1:35.767

38

23

Liam Lawson

MP Motorsport

1:35.893

43

24

Jehan Daruvala

PREMA Racing

1:35.940

37

25

Marcus Armstrong

PREMA Racing

1:35.959

37

26

David Beckmann

ART Grand Prix

1:36.001

31

27

Leonardo Pulcini

Hitech Grand Prix

1:36.032

37

28

Ye Yifei

Hitech Grand Prix

1:36.231

34

29

Alessio Deledda

Campos Racing

1:36.385

33

30

Teppei Natori

Carlin Buzz Racing

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