Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
FIA Formula 3 Championship leader Rafael Camara set the early pace in Barcelona as he topped free practice.
The Brazilian’s lap of 1m29.024s early in the session was enough to keep the rest of the field at arms length as he looks to recover from a poor round in Monaco.
With the drivers already having tested in Barcelona three months prior, running in the early stages of the session was minimal.
With 30 minutes left of the session, all drivers returned to the track.
The Campos Racing trio set the early pace with Mari Boya leading team-mate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Nikola Tsolov, only to be bettered by Camara.
Trident, the team leading the championship by 38 points, was once again looking strong. With Camara topping the time sheets, team-mates Charlie Wurz and Noah Stromsted sat in seventh and 11th, six tenths off.
With 10 minutes remaining, the vast majority of drivers found themselves in the pitlane again, comfortable with their track time.
Traffic was once again an issue with drivers struggling to find clear air, and Noel Leon having to take evasive action heading into turn 9. Inthraphuvasak was another driver to struggle with traffic, losing time on his final lap that prevented him from improving on his seventh place time.
Drivers were also seemingly struggling with track limits, most notably in the second sector of turn 9 and 10. Louis Sharp was one of the many drivers to run wide out of turn 9; the Kiwi sent momentarily airborne by the sausage kerbs on the outside of the corner.
Alessandro Giusti was another driver to struggle into turn 9, the Frenchman required to take to the escape road after a big dose of oversteer on his final lap.
As the chequered flag fell Camara remained top of the timesheets with Giusti second, three tenths off.
Despite having pitted with 10 minutes remaining and opted not to return to the track, Boya off the back of an impressive weekend in Monaco was third, with Campos the only team to have all three cars in the top ten: Inthraphuvusak was seventh while teammate Nikola Tsolov was tenth.
Charlie Wurz was fourth ahead of Hitech’s Martinius Stenshorne. Tim Tramnitz, second to Camara in the championship, found himself sixth ahead of Inthraphuvusak and Voisin in eighth. Santiago Ramos and Nikola Tsolov rounded out the top 10, all of whom were within seven tenths of Camara up front.
Free practice results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Rafael Camara Trident 1m29.024s 12
2 Alessandro Giusti MP Motorsport 1m29.346s +0.322s 10
3 Mari Boya Campos Racing 1m29.502s +0.478s 8
4 Charlie Wurz Trident 1m29.615s +0.591s 11
5 Martinius Stenshorne Hitech 1m29.637s +0.613s 12
6 Tim Tramnitz MP Motorsport 1m29.679s +0.655s 11
7 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak Campos Racing 1m29.715s +0.691s 9
8 Callum Voisin Rodin Motorsport 1m29.772s +0.748s 11
9 Santiago Ramos Van Amersfoort Racing 1m29.792s +0.768s 10
10 Nikola Tsolov Campos Racing 1m29.795s +0.771s 9
11 Noah Stromsted Trident 1m29.798s +0.774s 10
12 Theophile Nael Van Amersfoort Racing 1m29.838s +0.814s 9
13 Roman Bilinski Rodin Motorsport 1m29.848s +0.824s 12
14 James Wharton ART Grand Prix 1m29.934s +0.910s 10
15 Noel Leon Prema 1m29.952s +0.928s 13
16 Laurens van Hoepen ART Grand Prix 1m29.995s +0.971s 10
17 Louis Sharp Rodin Motorsport 1m30.032s +1.008s 11
18 Brando Badoer Prema 1m30.119s +1.095s 14
19 Matias Zagazeta DAMS 1m30.239s +1.215s 11
20 Christian Ho DAMS 1m30.347s +1.323s 12
21 Bruno del Pino MP Motorsport 1m30.364s +1.340s 12
22 Tuukka Taponen ART Grand Prix 1m30.398s +1.374s 11
23 Ivan Domingues Van Amersfoort Racing 1m30.636s +1.612s 10
24 Nicola Lacorte DAMS 1m30.648s +1.624s 10
25 Ugo Ugochukwu Prema 1m30.679s +1.655s 13
26 Nicola Marinangeli AIX Racing 1m30.786s +1.762s 10
27 Brad Benavides AIX Racing 1m30.837s +1.813s 12
28 Gerard Xie Hitech 1m31.024s +2.000s 11
29 Jesse Carrasquedo Hitech 1m31.283s +2.259s 11
30 Jose Garfias AIX Racing 1m31.608s +2.584s 14