After a productive day which saw Prema Racing’s Noel León set a top time of 1:27.711, the second day of the 2025 pre-season testing kicked off at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. With the drivers having had a day to familiarise themselves with the new Dallara F3 2025 chassis, the teams focused on performance runs, with many opting for a quick start to the morning session.
Taponen sets the early pace
While Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov was the first to set a representative time on Wednesday, it was ART Grand Prix’s Tuuka Taponen who set the early pace on Thursday morning. The Finn’s lap time of 1:28.879 saw him put his name at the top of the timesheet, beating out his teammate and fellow F3 rookie by 0.376 seconds.
Taponen would not, however, hold onto the top time of the morning session. Instead, Trident’s Noah Strømsted seized the lead. Unlike the majority of the teams, the Trident drivers had waited to leave the pit lane. This allowed Strømsted, and his teammate Rafael Câmara, to complete their laps on a clear track. Strømsted’s time of 1:27.714, just 0.003 seconds off León’s top time on Wednesday, saw him put himself, albeit temporarily, into P1, with Câmara 0.581 seconds behind in P2. They were, however, soon toppled to P3 and P4 respectively, as the other drivers returned to the track for another round of laps.
Once again, the ART Grand Prix claimed a 1-2 led by Taponen. The Finn’s lap time of 1:26.838 returned him to the top of the timesheet. Taponen’s teammate Laurens van Hoepen slotted himself into P2, having set a time of 1:26.880.
Tsolov tops the morning session
Though Taponen would improve to a 1:26.782 on his next flying lap, he was not able to keep hold of his place at the top of the timesheet. Instead, he found himself in P2—just 0.164 seconds behind Campos Racing’s Tsolov who was quickest with a 1:26.618.
Though the Trident drivers again attempted their laps on a clear track, they could not retake the lead. Instead, Strømsted had to settle for P3, with his 26.938 being 0.320 seconds off Tsolov’s top time.
Any further attempt to take the lead from Tsolov was disrupted, however. With less than 40 minutes left, the red flags were brought out after DAMS Lucas Oil’s Nicola Lacorte stopped on track at the exit of Turn 8. Though the session resumed with 35 minutes to go, none of the drivers would mount a suitable challenge to threaten Tsolov’s place at the top.
Instead, as the checkered flag waved, Tsolov led Taponen and Strømsted on the timesheet. ART Grand Prix’s van Hoepen finished fourth, with Tsolov’s Campos Racing teammate, Mari Boya fifth. The Rodin Motorsport duo of Louis Sharp and Roman Bilinski finished sixth and seventh respectively, leading Trident’s Rafael Câmara and Charlie Wurz who finished eighth and ninth. Prema Racing’s Noel León, who was quickest on the first day of pre-season testing, rounded out the top 10 with a best time of 1:27.427.
Campos Racing takes early lead in afternoon session
After a two-hour break, the F3 drivers returned to the track to continue the second day of the 2025 F3 pre-season testing. This time, Campos Racing took an early lead with a 1-2-3 led by Tsolov. Tsolov’s time of 1:27.373 saw him lead his teammate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak by just 0.075 seconds. Their teammate, Mari Boya rounded out the top three, over three-tenths behind Tsolov’s leading time.
The Campos Racing trio kept hold of their places at the top of the timesheet through the half of the afternoon session, though Tsolov did improve his time to 1:27.249, putting himself 0.199s ahead of Inthraphuvasak in second.
Tsolov ends second day of testing at the top of timesheet
Into the first minutes of the second half of the afternoon session, however, Campos Racing finally lost their 1-2-3. With just about 82 minutes left before the end of the session, Hitech TGR’s Martinius Stenshorne moved up to third with a time of 1:27.569.
After holding onto P3 for about 50 minutes, Stenshorne dropped to P4 when MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz secured third place with a time of 1:27.569. This marked the final significant improvement of the day. As the checkered flag waved, Tsolov remained at the top of the timesheet, ahead of Inthraphuvasak and Tramnitz. Stenshorne finished the session fourth, ahead of van Hoepen in fifth, Boya in sixth, and MP Motorsport’s rookies Alessandro Giusti and Bruno del Pino in seventh and eighth respectively. Noel León again finished ninth, with Hitech TGR rookie Gerrard Xie rounding out the top 10.
