F3 Austria test round-up: Collet breaks track record at the Red Bull Ring
Alpine Formula 1 junior Caio Collet ended Formula 3 pre-season testing fastest at the Red Bull Ring.
The Brazilian set an F3 track record in the process with a 1m18.592s in the afternoon session on day two of the test in Austria.
Collet ended the day just under 0.2s clear of Prema’s Dennis Hauger in second place.
Jenzer Motorsport’s Calan Williams initially broke Alexander Smolyar’s record lap – set on day one - during a qualifying run in the morning session on day two.
Collet, Hauger, Crawford and Jonny Edgar all posted faster times in the final afternoon session.
Day 1
Smolyar was the man to beat on day one of testing at the Red Bull Ring.
The ART Grand Prix returnee set his table-topping 1m18.894s with just 19 minutes left on the clock in the afternoon session.
He was the only driver to dip into the 1m18s as Jonny Edgar was his nearest challenger for Carlin, 0.142s back in second.
Just 0.867s separated the top 23 on the first afternoon of the season highlighting F3’s tight, competitive nature once again.
The good news story of the test was the return of Juan Manuel Correa after his accident 18 months ago in F2 at Spa-Francorchamps.
Correa ended the first day 14th fastest overall, just over 0.5s shy of Smolyar’s top time.
Day 2
Day two of pre-season testing got off to a slow start as a sprinkling of snow halted proceedings.
Once conditions improved, the track action got underway as Victor Martins bettered Smolyar’s benchmark from the first day by 0.058s.
The final afternoon session is where the times picked up as 15-year-old American driver Jak Crawford broke the lap record with a 1m18.775s.
Crawford eventually dropped to third at the end of the day as Collet and fellow Red Bull junior Hauger set new lap records of their own.
Edgar, Matteo Nannini, Frederik Vesti, Clément Novalak, Michael Belov and Olli Caldwell all set times in the 1m18s bracket in the afternoon - completing the top nine in the final classification.
F3 will return for another two-day pre-season test at the Circuit-de Barcelona-Catalunya on April 21-22, ahead of the season-opener in May.
