Van Langendonck fastest again as FREC concludes Ricard test

Photo: Gedlich Racing

After four days of post-season testing, a clear picture of Formula Regional Europe’s likely frontrunners in 2027 is beginning to emerge, with rookies MP Motorsport’s Dries Van Langendonck, the R-ace GP pair of Oleksandr Bondarev and Kenzo Craigie, and Alp Aksoy at Prema consistently in the leading group.

But the newcomers are not having things all their own way, as second-year drivers Alex Ninovic at Rodin Motorsport, CL Motorsport’s Reno Francot and R-ace GP’s Toyota-backed Yuki Sano provide a strong benchmark.

It was Van Langendonck who again set the pace on the second day of Formula Regional Europe’s second post-season test at Paul Ricard, going fastest in the morning session, with Francot heading team-mate Miguel Costa in the afternoon.

The McLaren junior set what turned out to be the best time of the day just 40 minutes into the three-hour morning session. Craigie came closest, posting a time exactly one-tenth slower in the final 40 minutes of the session.

In reality, the Belgian driver’s lap included the best time in each of the three sectors, although Fernando Rivera was shown as having set a time in the middle sector 0.7s quicker than anybody else, presumably by missing the Mistral chicane completely.

Aksoy continued his strong showing over the two days to go third ahead of a familiar face, Evan Giltaire. The Japanese Super Formula Lights champion made an unexpected return to FREC machinery, rejoining his former team, ART Grand Prix.

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Giltaire was quickly back into the groove, briefly going top early in the session and finishing just 0.008s down on Craigie.

Craigie’s R-ace GP team-mate Bondarev set the fifth-fastest time of the morning ahead of Ninovic and Trident’s Ary Bansal, with Francot rounding out the top eight.

Times were slightly slower in the red flag-disrupted second session, as Francot set the benchmark of 1m58.549s early on which then stood until the chequered flag. Indeed, he and his CL team-mate Costa were the only drivers in the top 15 to go faster in the afternoon than the morning.

Giltaire was again quick in the afternoon, finishing third ahead of Aksoy, who set his time on only his fourth lap.

After Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Lima brought out a late red flag, just under half the field ventured out for a late push lap, with Ninovic jumping up to fifth, displacing VAR’s Scott Lindblom.

G4 Racing’s Oscar Repetto held onto seventh with another early lap, while Alisha Palmowski was another to improve on her final lap to move up to eighth.

Van Langendonck was slowest of all in the afternoon session but had already given his potential rivals a very clear warning of what they can expect in the season ahead in the morning.

The teams have one more post-season test next week at the Red Bull Ring, where MP will hope to have its remaining drivers, Rocco Coronel and Kasper Schormans back in the cockpit, having been absent this week due to F4 commitments.