The three days of collective testing organised by FIA Formula 3 in Barcelona delivered encouraging signs ahead of the championship curtain-raiser. Naël topped the timesheets on the final day, while Ugochukwu led the way on Wednesday. Heuzenroeder, stepping in for the injured Rivera, also featured among the front-runners
The three-day test held by FIA Formula 3 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya confirmed that Campos Racing and its drivers head into the 2026 season — in which the team will defend its Teams’ Championship crown — in excellent form. Ugo Ugochukwu, Théophile Naël and Patrick Heuzenroeder, the Australian replacing Ernesto Rivera this week as the Mexican continues to recover from a back injury, consistently ran at the sharp end in both qualifying simulations and long-run race simulations.
Track action got underway on Tuesday, with three full days of running ahead and drivers having up to eight sets of new hard-compound tires at their disposal. The morning focused on installation laps to ensure all systems were operating correctly. It was not until the afternoon that representative lap times began to emerge, with Ugochukwu leading the Campos Racing charge in the session. The American finished third overall with a best time of 1:28.858. Naël and Heuzenroeder posted best laps of 1:29.307 and 1:29.738 respectively.
On Wednesday, one of the main challenges proved to be the wind. Strong gusts caused several excursions into the gravel at the final corner leading onto the main straight. Midway through the morning, Naël climbed to provisional second on the timesheets with a 1:27.875, although he later slipped down the order as others bolted on fresh tires for qualifying-style runs. The afternoon programme was largely focused on long-run simulations, but in the closing stages all three Campos Racing drivers switched to performance runs. Ugochukwu topped the classification with a 1:28.241, followed by Heuzenroeder (1:28.444) and Naël (1:28.665), underlining the team’s collective strength.
Engines roared into life for the final time on Thursday. As is often the case, the quickest laps came in the morning. Naël tipped the balance in his favour with a 1:27.525, securing the unofficial “pole position” for that session. The margins were extremely tight: Ugochukwu ended third with a 1:27.640, while Heuzenroeder completed a strong team performance in sixth with a 1:27.926. In the afternoon, the focus shifted to long runs to round off the week. Under those conditions, Ugochukwu set a best time of 1:31.806, with Naël recording a 1:32.230. Heuzenroeder, meanwhile, posted a 1:32.644 as the chequered flag fell on the final day of testing.
Attention now turns to three weeks of data analysis and debriefs following the extensive mileage completed in Barcelona. The next time the cars hit the track will be for free practice in Melbourne, which hosts this year’s season opener. Then it will be for real. The single-seaters are already “en route” to Australia. The show is about to begin.
