Formula 3 veteran Will Buller kept his T-Sport Dallara and its ThreeBond Nissan engine on top as he headed the final FIA F3 European Championship pre-season test at Monza.
Northern Irishman Buller displaced Prema Powerteam Dallara-Mercedes duo Alex Lynn and Raffaele Marciello with two super-quick laps right at the end of the day, going 0.257 seconds clear of the Italian squad’s leading contenders.
T-Sport boss Russell Eacott said: “Will’s done very well today. He didn’t have new tyres this morning but we knew we had reasonable pace.
“In the afternoon, things were a bit messy on his first set of new tyres but on his second it was a really good effort.”
Tom Blomqvist also moved up the order in the closing minutes to go fourth – a tonic for EuroInternational, which has only recently moved up to the top level of F3 with its Dallara-Merc.
Top rookie this time around was Double R Racing’s Italian sensation Antonio Giovinazzi, who was second in the morning behind Fortec Motorsport man Pipo Derani, but beat the Brazilian to fifth in the afternoon times.
Most of the Carlin team’s drivers featured at or near the top at various times during the day, with Harry Tincknell finishing up as the best of the squad’s Dallara-Volkswagen drivers in seventh.
The test ended up being reduced from two days to one, as snow on Monday caused the day’s activities to be cancelled.
Testing was delayed again on Tuesday by two hours because of ice, and the morning’s two-hour session took place with snow on the grass beside the track. Conditions improved – and times tumbled – during the four hours of running in the afternoon.
There is now a two-day gap before the championship’s opening race weekend kicks off at the same track on Friday with free practice and qualifying.
Combined test times: Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Will Buller T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m45.354s 2. Alex Lynn Prema Dallara-Merc 1m45.611s + 0.257s 3. Raffaele Marciello Prema Dallara-Merc 1m45.713s + 0.359s 4. Tom Blomqvist EuroIntern'l Dallara-Merc 1m45.764s + 0.410s 5. Antonio Giovinazzi Double R Dallara-Merc 1m45.789s + 0.435s 6. Pipo Derani Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m45.869s + 0.515s 7. Harry Tincknell Carlin Dallara-VW 1m45.895s + 0.541s 8. Lucas Auer Prema Dallara-Merc 1m45.994s + 0.640s 9. Felix Serralles Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m46.026s + 0.672s 10. Mans Grenhagen Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m46.030s + 0.676s 11. Jordan King Carlin Dallara-VW 1m46.085s + 0.731s 12. Pascal Wehrlein Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m46.272s + 0.918s 13. Roy Nissany Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m46.283s + 0.929s 14. Dennis van de Laar Van Amersfoort Dallara-VW 1m46.331s + 0.977s 15. Josh Hill Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m46.361s + 1.007s 16. Felix Rosenqvist Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m46.365s + 1.011s 17. Eddie Cheever Prema Dallara-Merc 1m46.380s + 1.026s 18. Mitchell Gilbert Mucke Dallara-Merc 1m46.512s + 1.158s 19. Nicholas Latifi Carlin Dallara-VW 1m46.541s + 1.187s 20. Sven Muller Ma-con Dallara-VW 1m46.555s + 1.201s 21. Jann Mardenborough Carlin Dallara-VW 1m46.724s + 1.370s 22. Dmitry Suranovich Fortec Dallara-Merc 1m47.394s + 2.040s 23. Spike Goddard T-Sport Dallara-Nissan 1m47.439s + 2.085s 24. Sean Gelael Double R Dallara-Merc 1m47.548s + 2.194s 25. Gary Thompson Ferraris Dallara-Merc 1m47.879s + 2.525s 26. Sandro Zeller Zeller Dallara-Merc 1m48.015s + 2.661s 27. Lucas Wolf URD Dallara-Merc 1m48.016s + 2.662s 28. Tatiana Calderon Double R Dallara-Merc 1m48.203s + 2.849s 29. Andre Rudersdorf Ma-con Dallara-VW 1m48.551s + 3.197s 30. Michela Cerruti Ferraris Dallara-Merc 1m49.411s + 4.057s
