León fastest On Opening Day Of 2025 Pre-Season Test In Barcelona

PREMA Racing led the way on the opening day of pre-season testing with Noel León.

The Mexican driver set a 1:27.711 in the afternoon session to lead the pack as the 2025 F3 car got its first run out with all 10 teams on track.

In the morning segment, Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin had been quickest of all, setting a 1:27.959 as the top time of the day until León shaded that effort later on.

MORNING

The new era of Formula 3 kicked off with everyone heading out onto circuit for installation laps in the opening minutes. Nikola Tsolov then set the early pace for Campos Racing on a 1:29.592 with just under 20 minutes gone.

Rodin Motorsport driver Roman Bilinski was next to go to the top of the times, narrowly edging out Tsolov’s benchmark by 0.015s, before ART Grand Prix’s Tuukka Taponen lowered the time to beat to a 1:28.984.

The Finn then improved on his best with a 1:28.751, followed shortly by teammate James Wharton who slotted into second. Laurens van Hoepen then made it an ART 1-2-3, after the Dutch driver moved himself up to P1 on a 1:28.568 with an hour gone.

The top five went unchanged until the final hour of running as Ivan Domingues put Van Amersfoort Racing up to fourth. The Portuguese driver set a 1:29.497 to displace Bilinski and Tsolov down to fifth and sixth respectively.

Into the final 15 minutes of the morning and Bilinski put Rodin on top once more with a 1:28.150. He was followed up the timing screens by both his teammates, Louis Sharp, setting a 1:28.560, before Callum Voisin went quickest of all to be the first into the 1:27s.

The Briton’s 1:27.959 remained the best effort of the morning session as the chequered flag waved, with Rodin topping the timing screens in a 1-2-3 from ART’s 4-5-6, van Hoepen staying ahead of Taponen and Wharton.

Domingues, Tsolov, PREMA Racing’s Noel León and VAR driver Théophile Nael rounded out the top 10.

Rodin’s Callum Voisin went quickest in the morning session as 2025 got underway in Barcelona

AFTERNOON

Campos Racing got running back underway for the afternoon session, going to the top as Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak led teammates Mari Boya and Tsolov inside the opening 10 minutes on a 1:29.505.

That was until the trio of Rodin drivers restored the team’s 1-2-3, this time with Sharp at the front as he lowered the best effort to a 1:27.898.

León displaced the Rodins from the top of the times, setting a 1:27.711 to go quickest of all with the first hour of the afternoon session almost up.

After a spell of stability in the order, Boya moved himself back into the top three as he set a 1:27.966 to go third quickest.

Into the final 45 minutes of running for Day 1 and MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz put himself up to second on a 1:27.862, 0.151s shy of León.

From then on, improvements were few and far between, with León going unchallenged at the top.

Tramnitz and Sharp followed with Boya and Tsolov rounding out the first five places for Campos. Bilinski headed up two ARTs of van Hoepen and Taponen, while Voisin edged out late improver Wharton, who rounded out the top 10.

With all drivers’ lap counts combined, 2,054 laps were completed on the first day of running with the new 2025 car.

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, MORNING SESSION

Position Driver Licence Team Time Laps
1 Callum Voisin GBR Rodin Motorsport 1:27.959 38
2 Roman Bilinski POL Rodin Motorsport 1:28.150 30
3 Louis Sharp NZL Rodin Motorsport 1:28.560 32
4 Laurens van Hoepen NLD ART Grand Prix 1:28.568 21
5 Tuukka Taponen FIN ART Grand Prix 1:28.751 19
6 James Wharton AUS ART Grand Prix 1:28.914 20
7 Ivan Domingues PRT Van Amersfoort Racing 1:29.354 25
8 Nikola Tsolov BGR Campos Racing 1:29.592 44
9 Noel León MEX PREMA Racing 1:29.720 30
10 Théophile Nael FRA Van Amersfoort Racing 1:29.745 31
11 Javier Sagrera ESP AIX Racing 1:29.866 40
12 Santiago Ramos MEX Van Amersfoort Racing 1:30.238 27
13 Nicola Marinangeli ITA AIX Racing 1:30.592 39
14 Jonas Ried DEU AIX Racing 1:33.369 34
15 Ugo Ugochukwu USA PREMA Racing 1:33.755 47
16 Brando Badoer ITA PREMA Racing 1:39.118 44
17 Martinius Stenshorne NOR Hitech TGR 1:42.301 28
18 Gerrard Xie CHN Hitech TGR 1:42.343 30
19 Charlie Wurz AUT TRIDENT 1:42.758 48
20 Noah Stromsted DNK TRIDENT 1:43.694 59
21 Joshua Dufek AUT Hitech TGR 1:43.879 30
22 Rafael Câmara BRA TRIDENT 1:43.975 49
23 Alessandro Giusti FRA MP Motorsport 1:49.806 26
24 Tim Tramnitz DEU MP Motorsport 2:00.525 35
25 Mari Boya ESP Campos Racing No Time 30
26 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak THA Campos Racing No Time 28
27 Bruno Del Pino ESP MP Motorsport No Time 32
28 Nicola Lacorte ITA DAMS Lucas Oil No Time 30
29 Matías Zagazeta PER DAMS Lucas Oil No Time 32
30 Christian Ho SGR DAMS Lucas Oil No Time 28

2025 FIA FORMULA 3 CHAMPIONSHIP – BARCELONA PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION

Position Driver Licence Team Time Laps
1 Noel León MEX PREMA Racing 1:27.711 36
2 Tim Tramnitz DEU MP Motorsport 1:27.862 23
3 Louis Sharp NZL Rodin Motorsport 1:27.898 46
4 Mari Boya ESP Campos Racing 1:27.966 40
5 Nikola Tsolov BGR Campos Racing 1:28.011 39
6 Roman Bilinski POL Rodin Motorsport 1:28.161 47
7 Laurens van Hoepen NLD ART Grand Prix 1:28.231 40
8 Tuukka Taponen FIN ART Grand Prix 1:28.315 45
9 Callum Voisin GBR Rodin Motorsport 1:28.327 45
10 James Wharton AUS ART Grand Prix 1:28.397 45
11 Javier Sagrera ESP AIX Racing 1:28.422 28
12 Ugo Ugochukwu USA PREMA Racing 1:28.427 40
13 Théophile Nael FRA Van Amersfoort Racing 1:28.472 37
14 Alessandro Giusti FRA MP Motorsport 1:28.644 23
15 Joshua Dufek AUT Hitech TGR 1:28.723 43
16 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak THA Campos Racing 1:28.734 32
17 Martinius Stenshorne NOR Hitech TGR 1:28.811 40
18 Gerrard Xie CHN Hitech TGR 1:28.819 29
19 Santiago Ramos MEX Van Amersfoort Racing 1:28.820 33
20 Nicola Marinangeli ITA AIX Racing 1:28.917 29
21 Ivan Domingues PRT Van Amersfoort Racing 1:29.019 23
22 Matías Zagazeta PER DAMS Lucas Oil 1:29.114 24
23 Brando Badoer ITA PREMA Racing 1:29.274 35
24 Christian Ho SGR DAMS Lucas Oil 1:29.339 25
25 Nicola Lacorte ITA DAMS Lucas Oil 1:29.376 21
26 Bruno Del Pino ESP MP Motorsport 1:29.702 24
27 Jonas Ried DEU AIX Racing 1:31.402 30
28 Charlie Wurz AUT TRIDENT 1:42.340 37
29 Noah Stromsted DNK TRIDENT 1:42.430 51
30 Rafael Câmara BRA TRIDENT 1:47.352 38

Formula 3 Media | Photos: Formula 3 Media