ART Grand Prix rookie Saucy tops post-season testing overall with the fastest lap on the final day in Valencia

ART Grand Prix rookie Grégoire Saucy capped off an impressive first Formula 3 test with a spot at the top of the timesheets on Day 3 in Valencia. The 2021 Formula Regional European champion finished as the fastest driver of the tests overall, lapping at 01:21.300 in the morning session to beat MP Motorsport’s Caio Collet and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jack Doohan.

Saucy’s time beats the quickest laps set on Days 1 and 2 by Doohan (01:22.402) and PREMA Racing’s Jak Crawford (1:21.368), respectively.

Doohan topped a long-run focused afternoon on the Spanish coast, with his time of 1:22.354 enough to see off Campos Racing rookie Reece Ushijima and Trident’s Jonny Edgar.

MORNING

The entire field headed onto the Ricardo Tormo tarmac when the lights went green for the final day of testing, with Collet setting the early pace at 1:21.392, ahead of MP’s Franco Colapinto and Ushijima.

Alex Smolyar’s return to F3 machinery didn’t last long as the Russian’s VAR came to a stop inside of the opening hour.

Saucy took P1 from Collet when action resumed, beating the Alpine junior by 0.092s, but there were then two further stoppages as Oliver Bearman’s PREMA came to a halt at Turn 12 and Campos’ Josep Maria Marti stopped at Turn 4.

Focus shifted to data gathering in the second half of the morning stint and Saucy retained his place at the top of the standings, ahead of Collet. Doohan finished third with the highest lap tally of the field, punching in a total of 64.

Trident’s Roman Stanek and Colapinto completed the top five, followed by Zane Maloney of Trident and Hitech Grand Prix’s Kaylen Frederick.

PREMA duo Crawford and Paul Aron were eighth and ninth, with ART’s Victor Martins rounding out the top 10.

AFTERNOON

Until the final half an hour, the afternoon stint was largely long-run based with many teams using up their fresh tyre allocation earlier in the morning.

Continuing his impressive work with MP over the three days in Spain, Collet took first place early on in the session with a tour of 1:22.811, ahead of Edgar and Ushijima.

Collet remained at the top of the order for the next two and a half hours before he was shifted by Doohan after a late Red Flag – caused by Brad Benavides stopping on track.

Doohan became just the second driver to break the 1m 23s barrier in the afternoon, setting 1:22.354, but he was shortly followed by Ushijima and Edgar, who joined him in bettering Collet to go second and third.

Smolyar and Van Amersfoort’s Filip Ugran pushed Collet – who completed the most laps in the afternoon - down to sixth, ahead of Campos Racing’s Hunter Yeany.

Having spent the first two days of testing in the latter half of the leaderboard, Zak O’Sullivan managed to break into the top 10 with Carlin Buzz Racing, finishing eighth, ahead of teammate Logan Sargeant and Hitech Grand Prix’s Isack Hadjar.

The test in Valencia concludes a thrilling 2021 campaign. Keep an eye on our official website and social media channels for information on the testing calendar for 2022.

2021 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP – VALENCIA POST-SEASON TESTS, DAY 3, MORNING SESSION

2021 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP – VALENCIA POST-SEASON TESTS, DAY 3, AFTERNOON SESSION