Ugo Ugochukwu ended the two-day 2026 F3 in-season test at the Madring in Madrid with the fastest time overall, leading the second morning session for Campos Racing with a 1:49.034.
The American finished 0.193s ahead of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi in the faster qualifying-focused morning running, while Enzo Deligny completed the top three. Championship leader Freddie Slater then topped a more race-run-focused afternoon for TRIDENT, edging title rival Ugochukwu by 0.105s with a 1:49.685.
Morning session: Ugochukwu sets the test benchmark
After Slater ended Day 1 quickest with a 1:50.343, teams immediately turned their attention towards Qualifying simulations on Tuesday morning.
The session only ran for eight minutes before its first interruption. Fernando Barrichello spun at Turn 8 but avoided the barriers and returned to the pit lane without damage, allowing action to resume quickly.
Campos Racing then took control of the early stages. Théophile Naël initially went fastest before teammate Ernesto Rivera lowered the overall test benchmark to a 1:50.108.
Naël responded by becoming the first driver of the test to break the 1m50s barrier, producing a 1:49.853. However, ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato soon moved ahead with a 1:49.673.
Yevan David continued the rapid progression for AIX Racing, setting a 1:49.561 before stopping on track and causing the second Red Flag of the morning. The Sri Lankan managed to recover to the pit lane, but another interruption followed shortly after the restart when Hitech’s Woohyun Shin hit the barriers at Turn 5.
Ugochukwu moves comfortably clear
With just over an hour remaining, drivers returned to the circuit and lap times began falling again.
Ugochukwu produced the decisive effort with around 45 minutes left, setting a 1:49.034. The lap moved him more than half a second clear of the field at that point and ultimately stood as the fastest time of the entire two-day test.
Yamakoshi later closed the gap substantially, putting his Van Amersfoort Racing car second with a 1:49.227. However, he then hit the barriers at Turn 11 with just over 20 minutes remaining, bringing out another Red Flag.
The circuit reopened for one final short green-flag run, but Ugochukwu remained untouched at the top.
Yamakoshi held second ahead of teammate Deligny, while Rivera placed the second Campos Racing car fourth. Tuukka Taponen completed the top five for MP Motorsport.
Bruno del Pino ensured all three Van Amersfoort Racing cars sat inside the top six, narrowly ahead of David, Kanato Le, Kato and Naël. Only 0.752s covered the first 10 drivers.
2026 F3 Madrid in-season test Day 2 morning standings
- Ugo Ugochukwu – Campos Racing – 1:49.034 – 37 laps
- Hiyu Yamakoshi – Van Amersfoort Racing – 1:49.227 – 29 laps
- Enzo Deligny – Van Amersfoort Racing – 1:49.501 – 36 laps
- Ernesto Rivera – Campos Racing – 1:49.522 – 35 laps
- Tuukka Taponen – MP Motorsport – 1:49.535 – 29 laps
- Bruno del Pino – Van Amersfoort Racing – 1:49.559 – 33 laps
- Yevan David – AIX Racing – 1:49.561 – 31 laps
- Kanato Le – ART Grand Prix – 1:49.670 – 35 laps
- Taito Kato – ART Grand Prix – 1:49.673 – 22 laps
- Théophile Naël – Campos Racing – 1:49.786 – 39 laps
- Pedro Clerot – Rodin Motorsport – 1:49.795 – 28 laps
- Jin Nakamura – Hitech – 1:49.848 – 31 laps
- Mattia Colnaghi – MP Motorsport – 1:49.849 – 27 laps
- Fionn McLaughlin – Hitech – 1:49.908 – 27 laps
- Freddie Slater – TRIDENT – 1:50.103 – 15 laps
- Matteo De Palo – Rodin Motorsport – 1:50.202 – 34 laps
- Brando Badoer – Rodin Motorsport – 1:50.206 – 30 laps
- Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:50.338 – 31 laps
- Alessandro Giusti – MP Motorsport – 1:50.358 – 28 laps
- Woohyun Shin – Hitech – 1:50.458 – 19 laps
- James Wharton – PREMA Racing – 1:50.637 – 26 laps
- Alex Powell – PREMA Racing – 1:50.669 – 31 laps
- Nicola Lacorte – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:50.671 – 32 laps
- Ricardo Escotto – AIX Racing – 1:50.753 – 37 laps
- Noah Strømsted – TRIDENT – 1:50.982 – 20 laps
- Gerrard Xie – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:51.131 – 32 laps
- Maciej Gładysz – ART Grand Prix – 1:51.173 – 10 laps
- Christian Ho – Rodin Motorsport – 1:51.188 – 33 laps
- José Garfias – PREMA Racing – 1:51.638 – 30 laps
- Fernando Barrichello – AIX Racing – 1:51.769 – 28 laps
Afternoon session: race runs take priority
Ugochukwu immediately returned to the top when afternoon running began, setting a 1:49.790 in the early minutes.
However, teams primarily focused on longer race simulations rather than chasing outright lap times, resulting in less movement on the timing screens than during the morning.
The first Red Flag arrived after 15 minutes when Fionn McLaughlin found the barriers at Turn 14. The Hitech driver was unharmed and running resumed after his car was recovered.
The field then settled into longer runs before another series of stoppages disrupted proceedings.
Matteo De Palo stopped on track around an hour into the session, although officials recovered the TRIDENT quickly. Mattia Colnaghi then lost his front wing at Turn 7 shortly after the restart, prompting another interruption despite the MP Motorsport driver making it back to the pit lane.
Nicola Lacorte caused the next Red Flag after spinning and making slight contact with the barriers at Turn 14. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver was also able to return to the pits without requiring recovery.
Slater takes over inside final 45 minutes
Ugochukwu remained fastest for much of the afternoon, but Slater moved ahead as the final 45 minutes approached.
The championship leader set a 1:49.685 to beat his Campos Racing rival by 0.105s, giving TRIDENT the fastest time of the afternoon after Slater had also topped Monday’s running.
Another Red Flag followed almost immediately when Le hit the barriers at Turn 7.
Running resumed with 25 minutes remaining, but the session ended prematurely following one final incident. Barrichello hit the barriers at Turn 3 with three minutes left, and Race Control opted not to restart the test.
That confirmed Slater at the top of the afternoon standings ahead of Ugochukwu and Naël.
David took fourth for AIX Racing, while Rivera’s fifth place ensured all three Campos cars featured inside the afternoon top five.
Pedro Clerot finished sixth for Rodin Motorsport ahead of Deligny and teammate Brando Badoer, with Strømsted and De Palo completing the top 10.
2026 F3 Madrid in-season test Day 2 afternoon standings
- Freddie Slater – TRIDENT – 1:49.685 – 22 laps
- Ugo Ugochukwu – Campos Racing – 1:49.790 – 28 laps
- Théophile Naël – Campos Racing – 1:50.104 – 32 laps
- Yevan David – AIX Racing – 1:50.188 – 14 laps
- Ernesto Rivera – Campos Racing – 1:50.248 – 34 laps
- Pedro Clerot – Rodin Motorsport – 1:50.334 – 22 laps
- Enzo Deligny – Van Amersfoort Racing – 1:50.388 – 30 laps
- Brando Badoer – Rodin Motorsport – 1:50.533 – 20 laps
- Noah Strømsted – TRIDENT – 1:50.645 – 22 laps
- Matteo De Palo – Rodin Motorsport – 1:50.750 – 27 laps
- Taito Kato – ART Grand Prix – 1:50.773 – 31 laps
- Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:50.826 – 28 laps
- Gerrard Xie – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:50.980 – 28 laps
- Fernando Barrichello – AIX Racing – 1:51.378 – 22 laps
- Ricardo Escotto – AIX Racing – 1:51.529 – 14 laps
- James Wharton – PREMA Racing – 1:51.625 – 23 laps
- Maciej Gładysz – ART Grand Prix – 1:51.681 – 20 laps
- Christian Ho – Rodin Motorsport – 1:51.687 – 11 laps
- Nicola Lacorte – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:51.766 – 20 laps
- José Garfias – PREMA Racing – 1:52.541 – 21 laps
- Tuukka Taponen – MP Motorsport – 1:52.616 – 22 laps
- Mattia Colnaghi – MP Motorsport – 1:52.742 – 21 laps
- Kanato Le – ART Grand Prix – 1:53.051 – 26 laps
- Fionn McLaughlin – Hitech – 1:53.128 – 6 laps
- Jin Nakamura – Hitech – 1:53.246 – 24 laps
- Alex Powell – PREMA Racing – 1:53.263 – 30 laps
- Alessandro Giusti – MP Motorsport – 1:53.485 – 21 laps
- Bruno del Pino – Van Amersfoort Racing – 2:02.995 – 12 laps
- Hiyu Yamakoshi – Van Amersfoort Racing – No Time – 0 laps
- Woohyun Shin – Hitech – No Time – 0 laps
Ugochukwu leaves Madring with outright benchmark
Ugochukwu’s 1:49.034 ultimately stood as the fastest time across both days, 1.309s quicker than Slater’s Day 1 benchmark.
The championship rivals therefore shared the leading honours at the new circuit. Ugochukwu topped both morning sessions and set the outright fastest time, while Slater led both afternoon classifications.
Campos Racing also ended the final day strongly, placing three cars inside the afternoon top five after Ugochukwu led the morning.
F3 now returns to competitive action at Monza from 4–6 September for the penultimate round of the 2026 campaign, before returning to the Madring for the season finale one week later.
