Renault Formula 1 protégé Christian Lundgaard set the quickest time for ART Grand Prix on the opening day of post-season Formula 3 testing in Spain.
All 10 Formula 3 teams reconvened at Valencia’s Ricardo Tormo Circuit on Sunday for the first of three days of running as part of the build-up to next month’s Macau Grand Prix.
Several driver/team combinations linked up in anticipation of the F3 World Cup while elsewhere youngsters received their first taste of the F3/19 machine for 2020 preparations.
Lundgaard, sixth in this year’s championship, clocked a time of 1:21.370 to finish two-tenths clear of fellow ART runner Sebastian Fernandez, as the afternoon session allowed for dry running after rain through the morning.
Alexander Smolyar had his first outing for Sauber Junior Team by Charouz and placed third, ahead of 2018 ADAC F4 champion Lirim Zendeli, who ran for Jenzer Motorsport.
Alessio Lorandi returned to action after sitting out 2019 – following his partial 2018 F2 season – and classified fifth for Trident, ahead of team-mate Devlin DeFrancesco.
Honda junior Yuki Tsunoda was the fastest of the Hitech trio in seventh, with DTM regular Ferdinand Habsburg eighth as he began Macau preparations with ART.
Two-time Macau winner Dan Ticktum was ninth for Carlin as he got preparations for his 2019 Macau assault underway, with Prema’s Logan Sargeant at the foot of the top 10.
