The final day of post-season testing in Barcelona brought the 2026 F3 action to a close this year, and it was Taito Kato who stamped his authority on the timesheets. Driving for ART Grand Prix, Kato set the outright fastest time of the test during a busy morning session, stopping the clocks on a 1:27.902.
Action kicked off immediately with every machine hitting the circuit early. Rodin Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti briefly took control with a 1:29.511 before the day's first red flag halted proceedings, triggered when Dion Gowda found the barrier at Turn 8. Once the track went green again, times tumbled rapidly. Ernesto Rivera surged to the front for Campos Racing on a 1:28.186.
Qualification simulations kept the top seven separated by a razor-thin 0.186 seconds before fresh rubber came out for another push. That was when Kato seized the top spot just as the halfway mark approached, putting in that benchmark 1:27.902. Rivera slotted into P2, missing out by a mere 0.012 seconds. Longer running took over for the rest of the morning, though one final stoppage interrupted the rhythm when Reza Seewooruthun beached his car in the gravel at Turn 10.
Afternoon running shifted focus heavily toward race simulations and high-fuel stints rather than single-lap glory. TRIDENT and MP Motorsport led the initial charge out of the pit lane, with Niccolò Maccagnani establishing the early benchmark for TRIDENT on a 1:29.994. An early red flag halted the session when Zhenrui Chi stopped on track for MP, requiring a recovery of the machine.
Once racing resumed, TRIDENT locked out the top three positions with a 1-2-3 punch. Kean Nakamura-Berta slotted into P2 ahead of Sebastian Wheldon—separated by just 0.017 seconds, though both sat 1.2 seconds adrift of Maccagnani’s earlier effort. As the clock wound down into the final thirty minutes, Dion Gowda hauled AIX Racing up the order into second place, 0.8 seconds away from the summit. AIX teammate James Egozi then jumped to third before the chequered flag dropped, sealing the final order without any further shifts among the top five.
