F3 Bahrain: Stanek tops practice ahead of Saucy and Leclerc

The Trident driver, who joins the team from Hitech Grand Prix for his third season in the series, set a 1m48.012s to top the timesheets on Friday morning.

Rookies Saucy (ART Grand Prix) and Franco Colapinto, driving for new outfit Van Amersfoort Racing, had been trading times at the top of the timesheet before Stanek took the top spot with 15 minutes remaining of the sole practice session.

It is the first time the series races at Bahrain International Circuit, having undertaken its pre-season test here earlier this month.

Ferrari Drivers’ Academy member Leclerc, who had been sat in P8, went second quickest with seven minutes remaining of the session, setting a 1m48.090s, before he was pushed into third by reigning Formula Regional European champion Saucy.

Leclerc’s Prema team-mates also finished in the top seven, with fellow FDA member Ollie Bearman and Red Bull junior Jak Crawford in sixth and seventh respectively.

The reigning drivers’ champions, who took the title in 2021 with Dennis Hauger, will be hoping to clinch the teams’ championship this year after being narrowly beaten by Trident last season.

F3 has just one practice session ahead of today’s qualifying, with the new format seeing one reverse-grid sprint race on Saturday and a feature race on Sunday.

Alexander Smolyar went quickest 10 minutes into the session as the first representative laps were set, leading an MP Motorsport 1-2-3 with a 1m49.458s from Maini and Collet.

The Russian driver had previously said he would not compete in F3 or any international racing this season as sanctions were imposed on drivers from the country amid the war in Ukraine.

But he appeared on the series’ entry list for this weekend as an Authorised Neutral Driver under the FIA flag.