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Hugh Barter concluded F3’s pre-season test in Bahrain on a high.
The 17-year-old Australian-Japanese driver, who was born in Nagoya and raised in Melbourne, finished the final day of the three-day outing fifth quickest.
Barter, who will compete with Campos Racing for the coming campaign, clocked a time of one minute 47.704s around the Bahrain International Circuit at Sakhir.
Retained by Campos after finishing runner-up in last year’s Spanish F4 championship, Barter has steadily bedded himself in with the team over the three days.
Fellow Melburnian Tommy Smith was again towards the rear of the field, finishing 29th of the 30-car field with a time of 1:49.517s for Van Amersfoort Racing.
Trident’s Gabriele Bortoleto finished the four-hour session fastest with a lap of 1:47.417s.
This time, however, was three-quarters of a second slower than the best lap overall posted on the second day by ART Grand Prix’s Swiss driver Grégoire Saucy with a 1:46.642s.
This was predominantly due to the fact the final day was dominated by race runs, with the quicker laps set in the opening hour.
Brazilian Bortoleto finished 0.035s ahead of Hitech’s Gabriele Mini of Italy, with Saucy third quickest.
The first round of the season takes place over the Formula 1 weekend in Bahrain from March 3-5.
