PREMA Racing’s Hauger took his third podium of the weekend in second, but had to recover from a tough opening stint, with the polesitter briefly dropping to third.

The Red Bull junior’s teammate Olli Caldwell took the final podium position, after a brave late move on Alex Smolyar. The ART Grand Prix had looked likely to take the lead at one point after passing Hauger but struggled for pace in the closing laps and fell back to fourth.

Neither of Hauger’s main title rivals took points, with Victor Martins and Jack Doohan finishing at the back of the grid due to separate collisions.

AS IT HAPPENED

Dennis Hauger and Frederik Vesti have enjoyed two scintillating Qualifying battles of late and picked up their fight from the front row of Race 3. The Red Bull junior confidently hauled his PREMA off the line and into Turn 1 when the lights went out, but Vesti smartly ducked behind him and took a tow, attempting to slipstream past at the second turn. Hauger was smart to the move and covered himself to retain the lead.

The main mover in the top 10 was Martins, up three places from 10th. Although one of the positions gained was his teammate Caio Collet, who had initially failed to get his MP going and dropped down to the back of the grid.

At the front, Vesti continued to hound the back of Hauger and refused to let him build up any form of gap. Three times the Dane took a look, but he opted for patience and resisted making the move without the aid of DRS.

The system was switched on for Lap 4 and Vesti made the move a lap later, diving down the side with the aid of DRS for P1.

Vesti’s teammate Smolyar compounded Hauger’s misery by following his teammate through two tours later, just as the second PREMA of Caldwell moved ahead of Clement Novalak for P4.

While Hauger was losing places, his teammate Arthur Leclerc was gaining then, with the Monegasque up to P6 after a move on Martins.

Smolyar swiftly set about chasing his race leading teammate and it didn’t take long for an opening to arise. The Russian made a brave move down the side, but couldn’t make it work and ended up dropping back to third.

Behind them, Leclerc and Martins were continuing their back and forth. The Frenchman briefly reclaimed sixth and Leclerc ran wide in an attempt to fight back, which saw him collect Martins. Novalak was caught up in the incident, his Trident plunged into the gravel alongside Leclerc. Martins escaped the gravel but fell to the back of the field.

Leclerc and Novalak both clambered out of their cars and a Safety Car was required to clear away the debris.

The top three all held their positions when racing resumed, with Hauger seemingly over his earlier struggles and now putting pressure on Vesti. An opening failed to arise for the Norwegian as DRS was enabled with three laps to go. But his teammate Caldwell did manage to get the jump on Smolyar for the final podium position.

Jak Crawford and Jack Doohan were fighting for fifth when the Australian tagged the back of the Hitech, which dropped the pair of them down the order and brought out a Virtual Safety Car.

Action restarted once more, but without DRS and with just one lap remaining. Caldwell had a glance down the side of his teammate on the main straight but wasn’t able to make it work. Their tussle pulled Hauger away from his fight with Vesti, which allowed the Dane to cross the line unopposed.

Behind them, Matteo Nannini and Ayumu Iwasa benefitted from the two collisions to finish fifth and sixth. While Collet crossed the line seventh after a stellar recovery from the back of the grid after his opening lap woes. Logan Sargeant, Calan Williams and Jonny Edgar completed the top 10.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW

With neither of his two main rivals finishing, Hauger has increased his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to 115 points. Vesti has jumped to second with 74 points after his first win of the season, with Doohan in third on 72 points. Caldwell is fourth with 70 points and Martins fifth with 66.

In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA lead with 207 points ahead of Trident on 136 and ART Grand Prix on 135. MP Motorsport are fourth on 107 and Hitech Grand Prix with 38.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The field have a few weeks to settle down and look over the data before meeting again in Budapest at the end of July. Vesti will hope to carry over his good form and put pressure on Championship leader Hauger.

The post Vesti clinches dominant first win for ART Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

In third, Race 1 winner Dennis Hauger took plenty of plaudits with his second podium in a row, making up nine places from 12th to further increase his lead at the top of the championship.

Roman Stanek put plenty of pressure on Schumacher in the early stages of the race, but eventually succumbed to tyre wear and fell to fourth, just ahead of Jonny Edgar, who scored his joint-best finish to date.

After retiring from Race 1, Arthur Leclerc put on another brilliant recovery drive in Race 2, the PREMA Racing driver making up an incredible 21 places to sixth.

Despite running as high as second at one point, Hauger’s main Championship rival Victor Martins ended as one of five retirements when he seemingly lost power in the closing stages of the race.

AS IT HAPPENED

Despite not quite pulling right up to the white P1 line, Schumacher managed to bolt into the lead when the lights went out and even built up an early gap over Stanek. The Hitech Grand Prix racer did enough to retain P2 into the first turn, but just couldn’t match the pace of Schumacher, who had a 0.7s advantage by the halfway point of Lap 1.
However, all of the German’s early hard work was undone by the introduction of a Safety Car at the start of the second lap, after Tijmen Van der Helm clipped the back of Logan Sargeant following an overtake from the American at Turn 1.

Schumacher aced the restart, with the only movement in the top 10 coming from Vesti, who stole sixth from Edgar.
Stanek had to get his elbows out in a battle for second place, as Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa both made attempts on the Czech driver, but neither of them could make the moves stick.

Kaylen Frederick attempted to join in from fifth but found himself at the mercy of Vesti and had to switch from attack to defence.

After running wide on his first attempt, Crawford composed himself and went again. This time, the American made the move stick and got through, but he was then taken out of contention with mechanical issues. His Hitech slowing to an eventual stop.

Just as Crawford ducked out, Frederick tagged Correa and sent the duo spinning off at Turn 1. A Virtual Safety Car was required to get the cars out of the way, with Crawford and Frederick retiring and Correa dropping to last.
Schumacher had made the most of the chaos behind him to build up a 3.5s gap over Stanek, who had Martins all over the back of him in third. The MP Motorsport racer swiftly dispatched of the Hitech, going around the outside for second.

Vesti was up to fourth and within touching distance of a podium. The ART Grand Prix racer was patient with his move, eventually passing Stanek smoothly down the inside for third.

Behind them, Hauger was on the charge once again. The Championship leader had briefly fallen to 14th at the start of the race but was up to fifth and eying up Stanek with four laps to go. The Hitech Grand Prix driver was unable to hang on and handed the position over.

But the biggest mover of the lot was Hauger’s PREMA Racing teammate, Arthur Leclerc, the Monegasque running in seventh, behind Edgar, after starting from 27th.

There was heartbreak for title challenger Martins. The MP racer was up from P8 and hunting down Schumacher for the lead, but just as he sliced the gap down to 1.6s, he lost power and slowed to a stop. The Frenchman’s loss was Hauger’s gain, the Championship leader promoted P3 and set for a second successive podium.

Jack Doohan gained three places to finish seventh ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Olli Caldwell. Despite originally qualifying 27th, Johnathan Hoggard scored 10th to earn his first point.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW
After scoring his second podium in a row, Hauger leads the Drivers’ Championship on 97 points, ahead of Doohan on 72. Martins has dropped to third with 66, ahead of Caldwell on 55 and Vesti on 49.

In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first with 174, ahead of Trident on 136 and MP Motorsport on 101. ART Grand Prix are fourth with 97 and Hitech Grand Prix fifth with 30.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Dennis Hauger will get the opportunity to score a third podium in a row and further extend his grip on the Drivers’ Championship from pole in Race 3 on Sunday at 11.05am local time.

The post Schumacher scores maiden F3 win with a composed performance at the Red Bull Ring first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

Winning on home soil for the Red Bull Junior Team, Hauger crossed the line ahead of teammate Olli Caldwell and Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant to increase his lead at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

After losing reverse grid pole off the line, Sargeant had spent the majority of the race locked in a three-man brawl for first with Nannini and Novalak, while Hauger quietly picked his way through the pack.

The American struggled to keep the pace, though, and fell behind Hauger and Caldwell just as Nannini dramatically collided with Novalak at the front.

AS IT HAPPENED

A regular on the front row during his 2020 title challenge with PREMA Racing, Sargeant was lining up from pole for the first time with Charouz, but the American seemed out of practice, dropping down to second when the lights went out. Sargeant initially got off well, but Nannini’s start was simply stronger, with the HWA RACELAB ace braver on the brakes into the second turn.

Arthur Leclerc didn’t enjoy the type of start he’d have envisaged either, the PREMA struggling to getaway and falling from fourth to P8 off the line. Making up the most places was Novalak, the Trident bolting from seventh to third.

Not that the field were allowed to get into any form of rhythm, as a Virtual Safety Car was required when Ido Cohen pulled to a stop for the second session in a row.

When action resumed, the Championship front three were locked in a battle for fifth, with Victor Martins leading Jack Doohan and Hauger, the PREMA impressively up from 12th. Uncharacteristically, Martins appeared to crack under pressure and suffered a wide moment, dropping down to seventh.

At the front, Nannini had been unable to break away from Sargeant and the American briefly reclaimed the position, but his move sparked a three-way brawl with Novalak getting involved from third. Going three-wide, Nannini came out on top with Novalak up to second.

The trio continued to exchange places and for a moment it was Novalak in first, but by Lap 14, order had been restored and Nannini was the leader once again, followed by Sargeant and Novalak.

Leclerc’s race wasn’t getting any better, with the Monegasque running wide and grazing the wall, before later retiring from the pits. Things were looking a lot better for his teammate, Hauger, the Norwegian barging past Doohan, Caldwell and Sargeant to steal a podium spot.

Caldwell was able to follow his teammate through shortly after, making light work of the Charouz, while Doohan dropped down to ninth.

The Championship leader may well have been content with his lot, but was gifted first when Nannini clipped the back of Novalak during a fight for the lead and threw the pair of them into the gravel. Steering clear of trouble, Hauger pulled away with Caldwell in tow.

Nannini managed to recover for eighth, behind Doohan, but Novalak was plunged out of contention before eventually retiring. Unexpectedly returning to a podium position, Sargeant crossed the line with a strong 2.6s advantage over Martins.

There was plenty of further movement inside of the top 10 during a chaotic final few laps, with Jak Crawford and Caio Collet up to fifth and sixth, having started alongside each other in P8 and P9. After a series of impressive overtakes, Ayumu Iwasa finished in ninth, 10 places up from where he started, while Alex Smolyar completed the top 10.

After starting 18th, Jonny Edgar secured himself reverse grid pole with a P12 finish at the flag, meaning that he will start on the front row ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, who was 11th.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW

Hauger extends his points tally at the top of the Drivers’ Championship to 87 points, ahead of Martins on 68 and Doohan on 62. Caldwell is up to third with 53 and Novalak is fifth with 49.

In the Teams’ title fight, PREMA are first on 155 points, ahead of Trident on 111, with MP Motorsport in third with 108. ART are fourth with 82 points and Charouz are fifth with 28.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Jonny Edgar will look to make it two Red Bull junior wins from two when he lines up on reverse grid pole in the second race at the Red Bull Ring. Though Dennis Hauger is sure to fancy his chances once more as he starts from 12th for the second race in a row.

The post Hauger takes second F3 win from 12th in Spielberg after Nannini and Novalak crash from the lead first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

The ART Grand Prix driver looked on course for his second pole in a row, only for Hauger to improve on his final run and knock him off top stop by 0.028s. The second ART of Alex Smolyar finished behind them in third.

Clément Novalak led the field out onto a packed Red Bull Ring, with just 4.318km of track to share between 30 cars. Roman Stanek was the first of the field to set a competitive laptime, posting 1:21.082, but the Hitech Grand Prix driver’s tour was swiftly bettered by his teammate, Ayumu Iwasa, who dropped the leading time down to 1:20.704.

The times continued to tumble as the session reached the halfway point, with Round 2 polesitter Vesti vaulting to the top of the charts, recording 1:20.153. The Dane was followed by Jak Crawford, who jumped to second.

A quick trip into the pits for fresh Pirelli rubber was followed up by a red flag with eight minutes to go, as Ido Cohen pulled up on the main straight with a problem.

A mad scramble ensued with the grid returning with just six minutes to set a competitive time. Jack Doohan was thankful for some clean air, with those behind him severely bunched up, but the Trident couldn’t make it count and managed just P7.

Vesti found a decent slipstream and returned to provisional pole with 1:19.743, but the length of the Red Bull Ring meant there was just enough time for one final tour and the Dane couldn’t improve any further.

It was a case of roles reversed from Round 2, when Vesti nabbed P1 from Hauger in the dying stages of Qualifying. On this occasion, it was Dennis Hauger who improved late on, with the Norwegian stealing pole in the final minutes with a time of 1:19.726.

Caio Collet – who set the Formula 3 track record at Spielberg in pre-season testing – briefly jumped to first, but saw his time deleted for exceeding track limits and dropped back down to P4, behind Alex Smolyar.

Crawford claimed his best Qualifying at this level with fifth, 11 places higher than his previous best position. Novalak was sixth, with Free Practice pace-setter Olli Caldwell back in eighth, directly in front of his PREMA teammate Arthur Leclerc, who also secured his best Qualifying. Completing the top ten was title challenger Victor Martins.

Finishing 12th overall, Charouz Racing System’s Logan Sargeant will start ahead of HWA RACELAB’s Matteo Nannini in Saturday’s reverse grid Race 1, which takes place at 10.35am local time.

The post Hauger beats Vesti to pole with late lap at the Red Bull Ring first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

Just 0.004s separated the top two with Hitech Grand Prix’s Jak Crawford taking second and Charouz Racing System driver Logan Sargeant in third.

Rain was staying away but the field were greeted by cool morning conditions in the Styrian hills as they set out for their first outing of the weekend.

As the initial fast laps began to pour in, Dennis Hauger led the pack with a time of 1:21.229, ahead of Sargeant and Matteo Nannini. All three were some way off Caio Collet’s track record from pre-season testing, with the Brazilian setting 1:18.592 in very different conditions.

The MP Motorsport driver picked up from where he left off in Spielberg, dropping the first sub-1m 21s laptime to steal P1 from Hauger. The PREMA Racing driver responded but was still 0.172s off Collet.

After a brief check-up in the pits, Hauger returned to reclaim top spot at the second time of asking, recording 1:20.720 to put himself back ahead of Collet.

The Norwegian then improved on this time on his next tour, taking it down to 1:20.589 and solidifying the position. There was another PREMA vs MP battle going on for third, with Olli Caldwell usurping Victor Martins for P3.

With a large chunk of the field switching to fresh tyres in the final five minutes, the order enjoyed an all-mighty shuffle. Caldwell and Jack Crawford briefly sat in first after breaking the 1m 20s barrier, but it looked like Jack Doohan was going to finish the session in fastest.

The Australian’s tour of 1:19.745 was more than two tenths quicker than the rest of the field, but it proved too good to be true and was later deleted for exceeding track limits. That meant that the Australian plummeted out of the top ten and down to 22nd, with Caldwell and Crawford promoted to P1 and P2.
Meanwhile, Logan Sargeant was revelling on the new rubber, shooting up from 21st to third in the closing minutes, 0.008s ahead of Alex Smolyar.

Despite sitting first for large periods of the session, Hauger had dropped to sixth in the final classification behind his PREMA teammate Arthur Leclerc, who was another to benefit from a change of boots.

Jonny Edgar beat Frederik Vesti to seventh, despite the ART Grand Prix driver running inside of the top five for the majority of the session.
Amaury Cordeel finished in ninth after Doohan’s deleted time was confirmed, ahead of his Campos Racing teammate Lorenzo Colombo. The top ten separated by less than three tenths.

The post Caldwell beats Crawford to P1 in the opening session at Spielberg by 0.004s first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

PREMA enjoyed a one-two finish with Dennis Hauger in second, although Olli Caldwell was unable to hold onto third as MP Motorsport’s Victor Martins nabbed the final podium spot on the penultimate lap, after starting from 11th.

A Qualifying retirement on Friday looked to have dashed Leclerc’s hopes of a win in Round 2, but he put on a sensational performance in Race 1 to leap from 30th to 12th, earning himself reverse grid pole.

The Monegasque will have been thankful for a much calmer second race, looking untroubled throughout the 20 laps to win by more than 4s over Hauger.

AS IT HAPPENED

Lining up under dark clouds in France, there was despair for Jak Crawford when the lights went out, the Hitech Grand Prix driver stalling and getting stuck on the starting grid.

The American had a front row seat for reverse polesitter Leclerc’s getaway, as the Ferrari junior pulled off without a hitch and held the lead.

Leclerc’s PREMA teammates were battling for second behind him, but Hauger wasn’t able to make a move on Caldwell stick between Turns 1 and 2.
Promoted to fourth off the line, Ayumu Iwasa wasn’t able to retain the position for long, dropping down to sixth behind Jack Doohan and Martins, the latter up an incredible six places from P11. Clément Novalak clambered ahead of the Hitech shortly after for sixth, while Race 1 winner Alex Smolyar was up to eighth from P12.

Caio Collet wasn’t enjoying the same success as his MP Motorsport teammate. Finishing outside of the points in Race 1, the Brazilian was forced to retire from the pits in Race 2, after stalling at the start of the race.

But Martins was far from finished, the Frenchman edging ahead of Doohan for fourth, as Hauger began to reel in Caldwell in the fight for second. Lucky for PREMA, Hauger’s eventual overtake was a clean one, with the Italian team retaining hopes of a 1-2-3 finish.

There were a couple of scuffles further back, as Kaylen Frederick and Jonny Edgar came together, before Rafael Villagomez and Ido Cohen clashed as well. The latter was handed a 10s-time penalty for causing the collision, before later retiring.

Smolyar and Calan Williams both made it past Iwasa for seventh and eighth in the closing laps, dropping the Hitech racer down to P9 at the flag. In 10th, Vesti was able to hold off David Schumacher and Logan Sargeant for the final points’ position.

Out in front, Leclerc was enjoying a controlled run to the chequered flag, finishing the race with a 4.2s advantage over Hauger, the Norwegian seemingly happy to settle for second behind his teammate.

Caldwell’s podium, and PREMA’s 1-2-3, was very much under threat, though. The Briton had been drawn into a battle with the continually brilliant Martins, who was more than happy to break up the PREMA train. Diving down the inside of Caldwell and into third, the Frenchman made it two podiums in as many races, gaining his 18th position of the weekend so far.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW

Hauger and Martins are now tied on 48 points at the top of the Drivers’ Championship, although the PREMA driver is ahead on countback. Caldwell has fallen to third with 41 points, with Novalak fourth on 39 and Smolyar fifth on 36.

In the Teams’ title battle, PREMA remain first with 104 points, ahead of Trident on 72. MP are third with 68 and ART fourth with 67. Charouz Racing System are fifth with 18.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Vesti will be looking to translate his brilliant pole lap from Friday’s Qualifying to a first win of the season, when he lines up from P1 in Race 3 on Sunday at 11.40am local time.

Rivalling the ART driver will be the PREMA of Hauger, who will be hoping to follow up his Race 2 podium with a win in Race 3.

The post Leclerc dominates from lights-to-flag in Le Castellet for maiden F3 win first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

In third, reverse polesitter Calan Williams recovered from losing the race lead to take not only his first points in F3 but his first podium as well.

The podium trio were three of five different race leaders, with Logan Sargeant spending a brief period in P1, before dropping back to fourth, while Ayumu Iwasa also enjoyed a spell at the front, before a 5s time penalty relegated him to eighth.

Rivalling the top two for drive of the day was PREMA Racing’s Arthur Leclerc, the Monegasque recovering from his Qualifying retirement to climb from 30th to 12th, earning himself reverse grid pole for Race 2.

AS IT HAPPENED

Starting from pole in F3 for the first time in his career, Williams had said that he was aiming for a clear head when the lights went out, and it seemed as if the Australian had achieved it, hauling his Jenzer off the line and into the lead at Turn 1.

Attempting to make Williams think was Sargeant, who followed in tow having made light work of David Schumacher off the line for second. The Trident racer dropping back to sixth, with Iwasa, Juan Manuel Correa and Smolyar also all getting past the stuttering Trident.

A brief Virtual Safety Car was required at the end of the first lap as Johnathan Hoggard was forced into a disappointing retirement on his debut, pulling over onto the side of the track and clambering out of his Jenzer.

Clément Novalak matched the top five by getting past Schumacher when racing resumed, while Martins made a move on the third Trident of Jack Doohan for P8. The home hero then picked off Schumacher a lap later.

At the front, Williams had been unable to pull away from Sargeant, who remained within DRS range of the Jenzer. There was a wide moment for the Charouz in the final sector, which very nearly allowed Iwasa through from third. Composing himself, the American used the mistake as motivation to finally get past Williams for the lead.

Iwasa had retained momentum from his early attempt on Sargeant and followed the Charouz past Williams to take second at Turn 11.

Making it second time lucky, the Hitech Grand Prix driver made a daring move on Sargeant for the lead, diving past the Charouz and into first. Though, there were question marks over the legitimacy of the overtake, with the Hitech placed under investigation for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Behind them, Smolyar and Martins were continuing their charge to the podium, both of them picking off Correa for fourth and fifth. It took two attempts, but Smolyar eventually muscled his way through to third, wrestling the final podium place off Williams. Meanwhile, Novalak had stolen sixth from Correa, as his teammate Schumacher fell out of the top 12.

An astonishing final few laps saw the race completely turn on its head, begun by the sudden struggle of Sargeant, who fell to P5. That was followed by a stunning lunge from Smolyar on Iwasa for the lead, who was then smacked with a 5s time penalty for his earlier move on Sargeant. The Hitech dropping to P8 once it was applied.

But Smolyar held the lead for just two frenetic laps, Martins completing overtakes nine and 10 to become Race 1’s fifth different leader. Yet, it was far from over. Smolyar would not be denied and regained the lead on a dramatic final lap.

Williams reclaimed a place on the podium due to Iwasa’s penalty, which also promoted Sargeant, Novalak, Correa and Doohan. PREMA duo Hauger and Caldwell were up to ninth and 10th, while Jak Crawford had nabbed 11th, after starting P16.

Completing the most overtakes overall was the third PREMA of Arthur Leclerc. The Monegasque had been forced to retire from Qualifying and started from the back of the grid but finished the day in 12th after a brilliant drive.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP VIEW

Hauger retains his grip of the Drivers’ Championship for now, tied on 36 points with Martins, but ahead on countback. Novalak sits third with 34 points, with Caldwell on 33 and Smolyar on 32.

In the Teams’ Championship, PREMA are first on 69 points with ART Grand Prix second with 62 and Trident third on 61. MP Motorsport are fourth with 56 and Charouz Racing System fifth with 18.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Following his stunning overtake-fuelled drive, Leclerc will start from the opposite end of the reverse grid in Race 2, which takes place this afternoon at 4.40pm local time.

The post Smolyar takes second F3 win from sixth in Le Castellet thriller first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

The PREMA Racing driver had controlled the majority of the session, but had no answer to Vesti’s late effort and was forced to settle for second, ahead of MP Motorsport rookie Victor Martins.

Setting off in 27-degree heat, Alex Smolyar was the first driver to put a time on the board, the Russian getting in a 1:52.393 just ahead of an early red flag, caused by Arthur Leclerc, who pulled to a stop on the side of the track. Smolyar’s teammate Vesti was the only other driver to set a time before the stoppage, the ART Grand Prix man 0.002s off.

The pause in action could have benefitted the leading duo, with the rest of the grid forced into a second install lap on the same tyres, but their initial times weren’t quick enough and Hauger was able to jump to first. The Championship leader had topped Free Practice and returned to P1 with a time of 1:51.688, ahead of MP Motorsport duo Caio Collet and Martins.

Smolyar and Vesti had fallen to seventh and eighth by the end of the first runs, with Jack Doohan, Matteo Nannini and Jak Crawford all also able to better them.

Returning with fresh tyres for the second set of runs, Hauger looked certain to retain his control of Qualifying when he posted a purple first sector and followed it up with a personal best second, improving on his time and retaining first in the process.

Running outside of the top 10 at the time, Vesti had gone almost unnoticed on his fast lap, with the majority of eyes fastened on the battle between Hauger and Collet. But the ART Grand Prix man had set three strong green sectors and broke the 1m 51s barrier for the first time to steal first.

Collet, meanwhile, had not been able to keep up with Hauger and dropped down to fifth, with his MP teammate Martins improving to third and Doohan nipping to fourth. The Australian’s teammate Clément Novalak managed sixth on home soil, with the second ART of Smolyar settling for seventh.

Hauger set off on one final attempt, but his tyres were worse for wear and a poor first sector was followed up by a wobble in the second, as he went deep into Turn 7.

There were only two changes to the top 10 in the final minute, with Ayumu Iwasa sneaking into eighth, ahead of Juan Manuel Correa, while Logan Sargeant moved up 10th.

Finishing 12th overall, Jenzer Motorsport’s Calan Williams will start ahead of Trident’s David Schumacher in Saturday’s reverse grid Race 1, which takes place at 10.10am local time.

The post Vesti beats Hauger to pole in electrifying battle at Le Castellet first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

Heading out into warm 24-degree morning heat, the field were greeted by the welcome sight of fans in seats around the Paul Ricard circuit.

Pierre-Louis Chovet set the first official time, leading the field around the 5.8km circuit at 1:55.469. The Frenchman is substituting for László Tóth at Campos Racing, following the Hungarian’s positive COVID-19 test before the event.

Jumping to first, Collet shaved 2s off Chovet’s time as the field got to grips with the French circuit, while Frederik Vesti dived into second. The Dane was swiftly replaced in P2 by Jak Crawford and Calan Williams, although neither could match Collet.

Collet did what the rest of the field had failed to do and beat his own best time, lapping at 1:52.402, while Vesti returned to second, 0.327s off the MP Motorsport driver. The Brazilian’s stranglehold on P1 was broken with 20 minutes to go as the PREMA of Dennis Hauger beat his time with a tour of 1:52.297.

Reshad de Gerus was struggling with the limits around Le Castellet, running wide at Turn 2, before later skidding off at Turn 6 and striking the barriers, which brought out a Red Flag.

The field returned with 14 minutes to go, but there was little change to the order before action was halted again when Rafael Villagomez span his HWA RACELAB, resulting in a brief Virtual Safety Car.

The session sprung into life when action resumed, with a flurry of late lap times. Crawford broke the 1m 52s barrier to top the first of two final runs, but it was Hauger who ended the morning in first place. The Norwegian ace sliced five-tenths off the Hitech driver’s time to go top at the death, as Crawford dropped down fifth.

Despite leading large parts of the session, Collet had to settle for second at the flag, 0.252s off the PREMA. Doohan dove into third as part of the late runs, three tenths off the quickest time.

Sitting second with less than 30s to go, Vesti ended up fourth ahead of Victor Martins. Alex Smolyar and Jonny Edgar both improved to break into the top 10, ahead of Williams and his new Jenzer Motorsport teammate Johnathan Hoggard.

The post Hauger goes quickest with late lap at Le Castellet first appeared on InsideRacing.com.

Beating out ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti and Charouz Racing System’s Enzo Fittipaldi, Novalak broke the Formula 3 track record in Jerez, setting 1:28.677.

MORNING

The sun was shining on the final morning of pre-season testing, providing ideal conditions for a Qualifying simulation around the Circuito de Jerez.

Carrying over their form from Day 1, Trident took their now customary place at the top of the order, with Novalak leading teammate Jack Doohan.

Lapping at 1:28.677, Novalak was the first driver to post a sub-1m 29s time in Jerez, breaking the previous F3 track record of 1:29.041, which had been set in cooler conditions by Doohan at the post-season test in October last year.

Novalak retained his place at the top of the order, but Doohan began to drop down, falling to fourth by the end of the morning. Vesti was the first to overtake him, with the Mercedes prodigy breaking the 1m 28s barrier as well, running 0.258s off Novalak.

Also splitting the Trident duo was Fittipaldi, whose tour of 1:29.060 proved enough for P3. MP Motorsport and Alpine Academy duo Victor Martins and Caio Collet took fifth and sixth ahead of Hitech Grand Prix’s Red Bull junior Jak Crawford.

ART duo Alex Smolyar and Juan Manuel Correa took eight and ninth, while Carlin Buzz racer Jonny Edgar completed the top 10.

AFTERNOONT

he majority of the field were focused on race runs and data gathering as they headed out for the final afternoon of testing before the end of the season.

Hitech’s Ayumu Iwasa leapt to the top of the leaderboard within the opening half an hour.Setting 1:29.884 in the opening stages, the Hitech racer remained on top for the duration and was the only driver to break the 1m 30s barrier in the afternoon.

Clambering into second and third was PREMA duo Dennis Hauger and Olli Caldwell, who were 0.179s and 0.335s off the leading pace.Clambering into second and third was PREMA duo Dennis Hauger and Olli Caldwell, who were 0.179s and 0.335s off the leading pace.

Iwasa’s Hitech teammates Crawford and Stanek completed the top five ahead of Edgar and Calan Williams.Lorenzo Colombo made the top 10 for the first time in Jerez, beating out the quickest man from Day 1, Doohan.

The final PREMA of Arthur Leclerc completed the top 10, ahead of Pierre-Louis Chovet, who ran an impressive 56 laps in the final stint.

The field will now depart Spain with just over a month to work on the cars before the second round of the season at Le Castellet, on June 25-27.

The post Novalak puts Trident on top on the final day of testing in Jerez first appeared on InsideRacing.com.