Sano and van Langendonck set day 1 pace in FREC post-season test

Photo: ACI Sport

R-ace GP’s Yuki Sano and rookie Dries van Langendonck for MP Motorsport topped the two sessions on day one of Formula Regional Europe’s initial post-season test at Hockenheim.

Barely had the dust settled on a thrilling four-way Formula Regional European Championship title shootout at Hockenheim than the teams were back on track in Germany for the first post-season test, providing an early taste of the potential driver line-ups for 2027.

However, the proximity of F4 rounds in both Italy and France at the weekend may have limited the number of drivers from those championships joining this week’s tests, with notable absentees including respective championship leaders Luca Sammalisto and Guillaume Bouzar, although the Frenchman was a visitor to the FREC paddock over the weekend.

Toyota-backed Sano, a race winner at the Hungaroring in 2026, was on top throughout the morning session, posting increasingly faster times in the opening hour, before returning later in the session to post the overall quickest lap time of the morning session and the day overall.

Sano was joined at newly-crowned champions R-ace GP by two F1 juniors in what Formula Scout understands will comprise the team’s defnitive and very strong-looking 2027 line-up.

Mercedes’ Kenzo Craigie finished the day in fifth overall with Williams’ Oleksandr Bondarev, who made his series debut with Van Amersfoort Racing in the final two rounds, winning at Imola, one place behind, both setting their fastest times in the morning.

The afternoon session was headed by McLaren junior Dries van Langendonck in Sebastian Wheldon’s race-winning car at MP Motorsport. The leader of the British F4 championship, who recently joined Max Verstappen’s driver management stable, set his time very early in the afternoon session.

Joining Van Langendonck at MP Motorsport in another very strong line-up were Red Bull junior Rocco Coronel, son of Dutch racing legend Tom, and Kasper Schormans, currently leader of the Spanish F4 championship.

Red Bull junior Scott Lindblom, currently sixth in British F4, was second-fastest overall for Van Amersfoort Racing. He was joined at VAR by F4 drivers, Pedro Lima and Fernando Rivera. Rivera completed the most laps of any driver, 94, across the combined sessions.

Alisha Palmowski joined Rodin Motorsport, posting an impressive 15th fastest time, just 0.115s slower than team-mate Alex Ninovic. David Cosma Cristofor, second in Italian F4, drove the team’s third entry, finishing in 22nd.

ART Grand Prix ran two of its 2026 drivers, Alexandre Munoz and Matteo Giaccardi, alongside rookie Thibaut Ramaekers who currently lies second in French F4.

Prema Racing only fielded two cars, for Saqer Almaosherji and Oleksandr Savinkov