F3 - Lundgaard quickest on Day 1 in Valencia

Sport news Christian Lundgaard left ART Grand Prix with plenty to be pleased about on Day 1 of post-season testing in Valencia, topping the times with a slick 1:21.370. The Dane ran narrowly ahead of his teammate, Sebastian Fernandez, who finished 0.229s slower. Backing up the ART duo was Alexander Smolyar, who impressed on his debut with Sauber Junior Team by Charouz.
Lirim Zendeli, in his maiden appearance for Jenzer Motorsport, set the pace during a wet morning with 1:33.719, and the German impressed once more in the second stint, finishing fourth in the dry. 
Dark clouds loomed above the Circuit de Valencia ahead of the morning’s session and rain began to fall onto the track as the lights went green. 27 drivers headed out in the opening few minutes, but opted against setting a lap time, instead focusing on getting a feel for the damp conditions.
Once track conditions had been evaluated and the cars assessed once more, Jenzer Motorsport sent Lirim Zendeli out to see what he could do in his new machinery. The German wasn’t at full throttle, but still managed to set the standard at 1:39.627, in the wet Pirelli compounds.
The remainder of the 30 drivers followed suit and Dan Ticktum set about giving Zendeli a run for his money, bettering his opening time by more than 5s. The Jenzer driver improved to 1:35,543, but had to settle for P2, ahead of Linus Lundqvist.
Ticktum ran through 13 more laps in the opening hour and continued to top the timings, as Jake Hughes, Smolyar and Richard Verschoor all leapfrogged Zendeli in the standings.
Smolyar was impressing on his debut for Sauber Junior Team by Charouz and punched in a faster tour than Ticktum on his 21 st  lap, breaking the 1m 40s barrier. He was swiftly toppled by the day’s initial pacesetter though, as Zendeli returned to P1 with a time of 1:33.719.
The track began to dry as the morning session came to a close, but the cars persisted with the wets as damp sections remained, and the German on top wouldn’t be beaten in the tricky conditions. Backing up the Jezner man was Smolyar in second and Ticktum in third, while Hughes and Lundgaard completed the top five.
The track had dried by the time they returned in the afternoon and the 30 drivers quickly switched to the soft compounds, but resisted the urge to head straight back onto the track, instead putting further time in on the cars in the garage.
When they did began to feed onto the circuit 20 minutes later, Smolyar continued his impressive vein of form, setting the benchmark at 1:23.583. Zendeli would eventually whittle his own time down and edge ahead of the Russian, beating him by a narrow margin of 0.180s.
From thereon in, the times began to tumble. Jonathan Hoggard initially stole the lead, before ART duo Lungaard and Fernandez ran ahead by breaking the 1m 23s barrier. They were swiftly displaced by the PREMA of Logan Sargeant, before Verschoor handed MP Motorsport a turn on top.
With time running out, David Beckmann had a stint in P1 with Trident, before Zendeli took his place back out in front. It looked as if it would remain this way, before Lundgaard let loose. The Dane powered around the Circuit de Valencia in 1:21.370, followed by his teammate Fernandez, 0.299s behind.
The ART pair were the pick of Day 1, with Smolyar behind them in third, ahead of Zendeli and Alessio Lorandi. Devlin DeFrancesco, Yuki Tsunoda, Ferdinand Habsburg, Ticktum and Sargeant completed the top ten.
Class of 2019 duo Bent Viscaal and Simo Laaksonen will return for tomorrow’s session, which will include debuts for Enzo Fittipaldi, Theo Pourchaire and Dennis Hauger, amongst others. They’ll all hit the track at 9am (local time).
 
FIA Formula 3 Valencia post-season test – Day 1 morning session
 










 
DRIVER
TEAM
LAPTIME
LAPS


1
Lirim Zendeli
Jenzer Motorsport
1:33.719
32


2
Alexander Smolyar
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:33.850
32


3
Dan Ticktum
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:34.000
33


4
Jake Hughes
HWA RACELAB
1:34.283
36


5
Christian Lundgaard
ART Grand Prix
1:34.302
40


6
Richard Verschoor
MP Motorsport
1:34.394
22


7
Max Fewtrell
Hitech Grand Prix
1:34.436
34


8
Jack Doohan
Hitech Grand Prix
1:34.507
54


9
Lorenzo Colombo
MP Motorsport
1:34.523
30


10
Oscar Piastri
PREMA Racing
1:34.638
29


11
David Beckmann
Trident
1:34.662
40


12
Logan Sargeant
PREMA Racing
1:34.674
29


13
Yu Kanamaru
Campos Racing
1:34.690
39


14
Jonathan Hoggard
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:34.706
38


15
Theo Pourchaire
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:34.707
35


16
Linus Lundqvist
HWA RACELAB
1:34.756
29


17
Alessio Lorandi
Trident
1:34.770
38


18
Ferdinand Habsburg
ART Grand Prix
1:34.771
33


19
Sebastian Fernandez
ART Grand Prix
1:34.777
38


20
Federico Malvestiti
Jenzer Motorsport
1:34.811
37


21
Enaam Ahmed
PREMA Racing
1:34.890
30


22
Yuki Tsunoda
Hitech Grand Prix
1:34.894
32


23
Devlin DeFrancesco
Trident
1:34.937
43


24
Billy Monger
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:34.965
34


25
Joao Vieira
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:35.022
58


26
Fabio Scherer
HWA RACELAB
1:35.487
35


27
Calan Williams
Jenzer Motorsport
1:35.564
40


28
Lukas Dunner
MP Motorsport
1:35.573
39


29
David Vidales
Campos Racing
1:36.083
38


30
Alessio Deledda
Campos Racing
1:37.421
33



FIA Formula 3 Valencia post-season test – Day 1 afternoon session
 










 
DRIVER
TEAM
LAPTIME
LAPS


1
Christian Lundgaard
ART Grand Prix
1:21.370
39


2
Sebastian Fernandez
ART Grand Prix
1:21.599
42


3
Alexander Smolyar
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:21.613
49


4
Lirim Zendeli
Jenzer Motorsport
1:21.685
43


5
Alessio Lorandi
Trident
1:21.776
48


6
Devlin DeFrancesco
Trident
1:21.819
40


7
Yuki Tsunoda
Hitech Grand Prix
1:21.858
37


8
Ferdinand Habsburg
ART Grand Prix
1:21.867
41


9
Dan Ticktum
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:21.914
40


10
Logan Sargeant
PREMA Racing
1:21.992
42


11
Linus Lundqvist
HWA RACELAB
1:22.011
39


12
Richard Verschoor
MP Motorsport
1:22.105
35


13
Oscar Piastri
PREMA Racing
1:22.122
43


14
Jake Hughes
HWA RACELAB
1:22.177
28


15
Lorenzo Colombo
MP Motorsport
1:22.315
39


16
Jonathan Hoggard
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:22.420
41


17
David Beckmann
Trident
1:22.428
46


18
Jack Doohan
Hitech Grand Prix
1:22.435
41


19
Max Fewtrell
Hitech Grand Prix
1:22.443
26


20
Lukas Dunner
MP Motorsport
1:22.492
37


21
Yu Kanamaru
Campos Racing
1:22.565
34


22
Theo Pourchaire
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:22.576
37


23
Federico Malvestiti
Jenzer Motorsport
1:22.591
42


24
Fabio Scherer
HWA RACELAB
1:22.670
39


25
Enaam Ahmed
PREMA Racing
1:22.927
44


26
Calan Williams
Jenzer Motorsport
1:22.993
41


27
David Vidales
Campos Racing
1:23.164
41


28
Billy Monger
Carlin Buzz Racing
1:23.507
11


29
Joao Vieira
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:23.542
41


30
Alessio Deledda
Campos Racing
1:24.218
35


FIA Formula 3 Championship
F3 F3 SEASON 2019 Sport Circuit 1SportFIA Formula 3 ChampionshipCircuitF3SEASON 2019F300 Sunday, October 20, 2019 - 7:09pm Sunday, October 20, 2019 - 7:09pm