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Following the first round of the Formula 3 season in Bahrain, the category is now in Jerez for testing.
On the first of two Spanish tests prior to the second round of the F3 season at Imola, the drivers saw plenty of wet running on day one in Jerez.
After this test, the teams will head to Barcelona for another test, which will also play host to the third round of the season in May.
These two tests, prior to Imola in late April, provide the drivers with the chance to gain more experience, and the teams an opportunity to gather more data before the calendar really ramps up over the summer.
With over half the grid comprised of rookies for 2022, these tests represent an invaluable chance to further refine setups and become more comfortable at this level.
The track
Name: Circuito de Jerez, Ángel Nieto
Length: 4.428 km
Curves: 15
FIA Grade: 1
Opened: 8 December 1985
First Formula 3 tests: 2020
Location: The city of Jerez de la Frontera, 90 km south of Seville
The format
For these tests, every driver will get two days of running over 5th and 6th April.
This will be comprised of two sessions a day; the morning tests (from 9 am to 12 pm local time) and the afternoon tests (1 pm to 4 pm, local time).
They will test the cars and the Pirelli compounds with 8 sets of tyres each.
Day 1
The drivers challenge themselves and their competition to get the most data and best times.
For the morning session, the Monegasque Arthur Leclerc from PREMA was the quickest. With great pace, he got the best time of 1:42.825. He was followed up by Roman Stanek, who is looking to recover from a dreadful opening round of the season, where he got two punctures; Franco Colapinto, who had a strong debut weekend in F3, with a pole and a podium; and ART Grand Prix teammates Gregoire Saucy and Feature Race winner Victor Martins.
In the afternoon session, Ollie Bearman, also from PREMA, improved his time to a day 1 best time of 1:33.009.
Here is a table with the afternoon session results of the top 10 drivers.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Oliver Bearman | Prema Racing | 1:33.009 |
| 2 | Josep María Marti | Campos Racing | 1:33.666 |
| 3 | Zan Maloney | Trident | 1:33.736 |
| 4 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1:33.751 |
| 5 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema Racing | 1:33.998 |
| 6 | Juan Manuel Correa | ART Grand PRix | 1:34.122 |
| 7 | Jak Crawford | Prema Racing | 1:34.494 |
| 8 | Oliver Rasmussen | Trident | 1:34.683 |
| 9 | Gregoire Saucy | ART Grand Prix | 1:34.901 |
| 10 | David Vidales | Campos Racing | 1:35.212 |
The full F3 season calendar can be found here.
Credit Feature Image: FIA Formula 3 on Twitter