Stenshorne ends Day 1 in Jerez fastest for Hitech Pulse-Eight

Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Martinius Stenshorne ended the first day of post-season testing fastest of all. The Norwegian driver set a 1:30.761 in the afternoon session, the quickest effort on the opening day of running in Jerez.

Earlier on in the day, Mari Boya finished the first session as the quickest driver for Campos Racing, recording a 1:31.281 for the top spot in the morning.

MORNING

After overnight rain, the test kicked off on a damp track with the majority out of the garages right away for installation laps. Trident’s Noah Stromsted was the first driver below the two-minute mark as the track dried quickly, though his 1:51.968 didn’t stay top for long.

Several drivers improved with half an hour run, as Martinius Stenshorne led the way on a 1:45.535 for Hitech Pulse-Eight until Ugo Ugochukwu pipped him by 0.040s to take top spot.

Joshua Dufek moved up into P1 briefly until Stenshorne improved his personal best to restore himself back at the head of the pack on a 1:45.204 with an hour gone.

Ugochukwu was back out on track with an hour and a half remaining and broke in to the 1:44s to go P1 once again.

After a brief lull in action, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak went quickest, setting a 1:43.287 for Campos Racing.

Into the final 15 minutes and following another spell in the pitlane, the track filled up once more with all the drivers switching to slick tyres.

Freddie Slater immediately leapt up to P1 for Rodin Motorsport, recording a 1:33.975 to go ahead of Louis Sharp by 0.342s.

Alessandro Giusti then went quicker, a 1:33.722 putting the Frenchman top of the pile for MP Motorsport with just over five minutes left.

Mari Boya put in a 1:31.969 to put Campos back on top before improving on his personal best to lower the morning’s best effort to a 1:31.281.

Late improvements for Jesse Carrasquedo and Christian Ho meant they ended second and third quickest respectively at the chequered flag.

AFTERNOON

With the circuit fully dry, everyone was fitted with the Hard compound Pirelli tyres to resume on-track running as Bilinski led early on for Rodin with a 1:31.742. Stromsted managed to edge ahead soon afterwards, going 0.042s clear in P1.

Theophile Nael was next to go to the top of the pile, recording a 1:31.614 in the #20 Van Amersfoort Racing car.

Jenzer Motorsport then went fastest in the hands of Christian Ho, the Singaporean driver logging a 1:31.149 to go four-tenths clear with just over an hour gone of the afternoon session.

With just over an hour remaining on Day 1, times began to fall once again as Stenshorne and then Laurens van Hoepen recorded new session-best laptimes. The Dutch driver set a 1:31.020 for ART Grand Prix to go quickest of all, 0.008s quicker than Stenshorne.

With less than 50 minutes remaining of the session, John Bennett put VAR back on top as he became the first driver below the 1:31s on a 1:30.906.

Into the final 15 minutes of the day and the track filled up once more. Several drivers improved but it was Stenshorne that moved himself to P1 with a 1:30.761.

Boya was one of those to climb up the order late on but couldn’t quite sweep the standings on Day 1. The Spaniard wound up second quickest in the afternoon, 0.116s down on the top effort, while Bennett rounded out the top three with his earlier time.

Running will resume for the second and final day of testing in Jerez at 09:00 local time.

2024 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - JEREZ POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION

2024 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - JEREZ POST-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION