León fastest on opening day of 2025 pre-season test in Barcelona

PREMA Racing led the way on the opening day of pre-season testing with Noel León.

The Mexican driver set a 1:27.711 in the afternoon session to lead the pack as the 2025 F3 car got its first run out with all 10 teams on track.

In the morning segment, Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin had been quickest of all, setting a 1:27.959 as the top time of the day until León shaded that effort later on.

MORNING

The new era of Formula 3 kicked off with everyone heading out onto circuit for installation laps in the opening minutes. Nikola Tsolov then set the early pace for Campos Racing on a 1:29.592 with just under 20 minutes gone.

Rodin Motorsport driver Roman Bilinski was next to go to the top of the times, narrowly edging out Tsolov’s benchmark by 0.015s, before ART Grand Prix’s Tuukka Taponen lowered the time to beat to a 1:28.984.

The Finn then improved on his best with a 1:28.751, followed shortly by teammate James Wharton who slotted into second. Laurens van Hoepen then made it an ART 1-2-3, after the Dutch driver moved himself up to P1 on a 1:28.568 with an hour gone.

The top five went unchanged until the final hour of running as Ivan Domingues put Van Amersfoort Racing up to fourth. The Portuguese driver set a 1:29.497 to displace Bilinski and Tsolov down to fifth and sixth respectively.

Into the final 15 minutes of the morning and Bilinski put Rodin on top once more with a 1:28.150. He was followed up the timing screens by both his teammates, Louis Sharp, setting a 1:28.560, before Callum Voisin went quickest of all to be the first into the 1:27s.

The Briton’s 1:27.959 remained the best effort of the morning session as the chequered flag waved, with Rodin topping the timing screens in a 1-2-3 from ART’s 4-5-6, van Hoepen staying ahead of Taponen and Wharton.

Domingues, Tsolov, PREMA Racing’s Noel León and VAR driver Théophile Nael rounded out the top 10.

AFTERNOON

Campos Racing got running back underway for the afternoon session, going to the top as Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak led teammates Mari Boya and Tsolov inside the opening 10 minutes on a 1:29.505.

That was until the trio of Rodin drivers restored the team’s 1-2-3, this time with Sharp at the front as he lowered the best effort to a 1:27.898.

León displaced the Rodins from the top of the times, setting a 1:27.711 to go quickest of all with the first hour of the afternoon session almost up.

After a spell of stability in the order, Boya moved himself back into the top three as he set a 1:27.966 to go third quickest.

Into the final 45 minutes of running for Day 1 and MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz put himself up to second on a 1:27.862, 0.151s shy of León.

From then on, improvements were few and far between, with León going unchallenged at the top.

Tramnitz and Sharp followed with Boya and Tsolov rounding out the first five places for Campos. Bilinski headed up two ARTs of van Hoepen and Taponen, while Voisin edged out late improver Wharton, who rounded out the top 10.

With all drivers' lap counts combined, 2,054 laps were completed on the first day of running with the new 2025 car.

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION