Williams Racing Academy Driver Luke Browning set the pace in Formula 3 pre-season testing in Bahrain, topping the timesheets in the final two days of running.
The action got underway at the Sakhir International Circuit on Sunday, February 11 and ran through to Tuesday, February 13.
On the opening day of action it was the rookies who stole the limelight, with MP Motorsport’s Alex Dunne setting the fastest time in a rain hampered morning session and fellow rookie Noel León of Van Amersfoort Racing setting the benchmark of 1:46.657s in a drier afternoon session after 19 laps of running.
León’s time was 0.015s quicker than second place Oliver Goethe of Campos Racing (who completed 20 laps) and 0.171s faster than third place driver Tim Tramnitz of MP Motorsport (who completed 22 laps).
“Really happy with the lap,” said the 2023 Euroformula Open Champion after going fastest on the opening day of the test.
“We did an amazing job. Thanks to the team for the car, obviously it is a lot of work to do, we still have two more days but always happy to be on top.
“To be honest it was the first time in the car since last year, so I was really excited to be back. “It feels great but obviously we are going to work a little bit more to be competitive on the other days. Obviously, I’ve never driven in Bahrain, so I am learning the track.
“But just super happy to be able to put P1 on the board today. We still need to learn a little bit more and get used to the track, and to get used to the car once again. But obviously it’s a really good day.”
Day 2
Conditions improved on the second day of running, allowing drivers to get more laps under their belt.
After the morning session had concluded, Jenzer Motorsport’s Charlie Wurz stood at the top of the timesheets with a 1:46.963s laptime set within 30 laps of running.
Into the afternoon and it was Hitech’s Browning who ascended to the top of the leaderboard, completing 32 laps in the session and making his fastest tour in a time of 1:46.819s.
Browning’s effort was just 0.066s faster than MP Motorsport rookie Dunne (who completed 36 laps), who continued to impress after topping the rain-affected morning session on Sunday.
Third at the end of the second day’s running was Dunne’s MP Motorsport team-mate Tramnitz (35 laps) with a time of 1:46.976s, 0.157s off of Browning’s time.
Browning will undoubtedly be a title favourite going into the 2024 season with a rookie campaign under his belt along with a 2023 Macau Grand Prix victory and after topping the second day of running he outlined his title ambitions.
“The amount that I’ve learned from last year to this year, it’s been massive,” said the WIlliams Academy Driver.
“I’ve been picked up not only by Williams but by the structure and the support team I’ve got around me, it’s really good and that is thanks to them. We are in the right place; I think we’ve got the right team around us and hopefully that will show why we are hopefully going to be title contenders this year.”
Day 3
With the afternoon session being dedicated to predominantly race runs, it was Tuesday morning’s action that saw the ultimate pace settled.
Browning continued to impress in the final morning session of the three-day test, setting the fastest lap (1:46.566s) and completing the most amount of laps (35).
After completing 32 laps, ART Grand Prix’s Nikola Tsolov was second fastest with a time of 1:46.825s, with Jenzer’s Max Esterson third after setting a fastest time of 1:46.836s across his 26-lap stint.
ART GP’s Martinis Stenshorne (1:46.979s/31 laps) was fourth, ahead of fifth-placed León (1:47.196s/33 laps).
There were three ART GP drivers in the top 10 thanks to sixth place Laurens van Hoepen, who set a time of 1:47.298s in his 32 laps of running.
Next up was a trio of Trident runners, led by seventh-place Sami Meguetounif (1:47.323s/32 laps), followed by Leonardo Fornaroli (1:47.372s/28 laps) and Santiago Ramos (1:47.343s/28 laps).
Dunne completed the top-10 (1:47.381s/30 laps).
In the afternoon race run focussed session, Browning was also amongst the top places, solidifying his candidacy for the most impressive driver throughout testing.
The Hitech driver placed third in the afternoon session, completing 31 laps and setting a fastest time of 1:48.365s.
He was bettered by second place León, with the Van Amersfoort Racing rookie continuing to impress after topping the opening day of running.
The Mexican completed 29 laps and set a fastest time of 1:48.360s on Tuesday afternoon.
Topping the final session however was PREMA’s Dino Beganovic, who clocked 33 laps of the Sakhir International Circuit and posted a fastest time of 1:48.285s.
Beganovic returns to F3 for a second campaign in 2024 with the highest 2023 standing of all sophomore drivers.
After scoring four podiums and finishing sixth in last year’s ranking, Beganovic was happy with his race runs across the test, particularly in the final session when he achieved the fastest lap.
“It was a positive test, really really happy to be back on track after a long winter break,” he said.
“I’ve not been in the car since Macau. Really happy to be back racing and to be back driving the car.
“It’s been an intense three days of testing, we definitely learned something, and we know what we need for the weekend here, which is really good.
“I’m happy about this, especially that we learned something because that’s what testing is for, not to put a good lap time but it’s a bonus to put a good lap time, and I’m happy to finish off the test like this and to have a good feeling going heading into the race.
“The race sims looked pretty good from our side. Also to finish off today with a good performance run was nice. But I’m mainly happy that we learned so much from this test.”
The Formula 3 season begins in Bahrain on February 29 – March 02.
