Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Ian Rodriguez will make his first racing appearance of 2020 in next week’s Formula Regional European Championship round at Imola.
The Guatemalan raced in Italian Formula 4 for just over a season-and-a-half with DRZ Benelli, and picked up one win in that time before moving across to Indy Pro 2000 last year.
In his four rounds there with RP Motorsport he picked up two podiums and a fastest lap, before returning to Europe to reunite with DRZ Benelli for the Italian F4 season finale.
He hasn’t raced since then, but will return to RP’s fold by joining FREC as the Italian team is the technical partner to Portuguese squad DR Formula.
Rodriguez’s first taste of the series’ Tatuus T-318 car came last month, and he joined the team for the in-season Imola test on Wednesday.
Both sessions of that test were topped by Prema’ Arthur Leclerc, although it was Rodriguez who proved to be his closest rival on pace.
Just 0.021 seconds separated the two in the afternoon session, with Leclerc’s points-leading team-mate Gianluca Petecof a further 0.092s back.
An even smaller margin of 0.004s had split Leclerc and Petecof at the top in the morning.
Only Prema and DR Formula took part in the test, with the track being shared acros the two sessions with Italian Formula 4 runners. Rodriguez’s team-mate Emidio Pesce had an off at turn 5 in the afternoon that required his car to be retrieved from the gravel trap located there.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur Leclerc | Prema | 1m39.373s | 91 | |
| 2 | Ian Rodriguez | DR Formula by RP Motorsport | 1m39.394s | +0.021s | 82 |
| 3 | Gianluca Petecof | Prema | 1m39.486s | +0.113s | 96 |
| 4 | Oliver Rasmussen | Prema | 1m39.519s | +0.146s | 89 |
| 5 | Emidio Pesce | DR Formula by RP Motorsport | 1m40.135s | +0.762s | 92 |
| 6 | Jamie Chadwick | Prema | 1m40.193s | +0.820s | 89 |