TRIDENT’s Rafael Câmara sweeps the final day of the in-season test in Sakhir

Rafael Câmara proved to be the driver to beat on the final day of running at the Sakhir in-season test, the TRIDENT driver leading the way in both sessions, and setting the fastest time of the week in the process.

The Brazilian driver was in strong form to start the day, completing a 1:48.252 in the opening segment. He continued to show that pace in the afternoon, setting a 1:48.673 in the final moments of the session to sweep the day.

MORNING

Qualifying simulations kicked off the final day with MP Motorsport setting the early benchmark. Tim Tramnitz’s 1:48.583 topped the times, but only by 0.004s from teammate Alessandro Giusti.

The German held that lead for the first 25 minutes, before Day 1 pace-setter Nikola Tsolov went fastest with a 1:48.567 for Campos Racing.

As we approached the 45-minute mark though, TRIDENT rocketed to the top. Câmara went fastest on a 1:48.252, while his teammate Noah Stromsted went to P2, 0.176s behind.

Tramnitz and Giusti split the TRIDENT pair minutes later though. The former went 0.086s off Câmara in second, while the latter went to third, a tenth and a half away from the fastest time.

However, Giusti was soon pushed down to fourth by Tuukka Taponen, the ART Grand Prix driver climbing up to third with a 1:48.406, which was 0.157s off Câmara’s time.

After a brief stint in the pit lane, the teams turned their attentions to race simulations for the rest of the session, meaning there were no more changes to the timesheets.

As a result, Câmara ended up fastest, with the leading time of the week, ahead of Tramnitz, Taponen, and Giusti, as Stromsted rounded out the top five.

AFTERNOON

Long runs were once again the focus of the teams’ attentions, with Martinius Stenshorne’s 1:50.707 the early benchmark time, and he was closely followed by his Hitech TGR teammates Joshua Dufek and Gerrard Xie.

After a brief stint in the pitlane, the Norwegian driver returned to the track and improved on his next lap. A 1:50.440 put him 0.275s clear of Dufek.

With less than an hour to go in the day’s running, there was a first lead change of the session, as ART Grand Prix driver Laurens van Hoepen went fastest on a 1:50.421.

Callum Voisin then went up to third, before he was quickly demoted to fourth by his Rodin Motorsport teammate Roman Bilinski who completed a 1:50.662.

Minutes later though, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak jumped up to third with a 1:50.557, while Van Amersfoort Racing’s Théophile Nael went to P4, just 0.049s behind his Campos Racing rival.

The times continued to tumble as one lap pace became the focus once more. Câmara proved to be the driver on top, a 1:48.673 put him 0.818s ahead of Louis Sharp in second.

Câmara’s lead was reduced to 0.690s late on by Voisin, who went up to second ahead of teammate Sharp, with Charlie Wurz in P4 and Bilinski in fifth.

That brings an end to the three days of in-season testing in Sakhir, but the drivers are set to return to the Bahrain International Circuit from April 11-13 for Round 2 of the 2025 season.

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - SAKHIR IN-SEASON TEST, DAY 3, MORNING SESSION

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP - SAKHIR IN-SEASON TEST, DAY 3, AFTERNOON SESSION