Photo: Dutch Photo Agency
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Brando Badoer was fastest in pre-event testing for the Formula Regional European Championship round at Imola.
The day was split into two 50-minute sessions, and ART Grand Prix’s Alessandro Giusti topped the first with a 1m40.333s lap. He beat R-ace GP’s Tuukka Taponen to top spot by 0.05 seconds, with Prema’s Rafael Camara 0.171s behind in third.
Pedro Clerot was fourth for VAR, 0.186s off the fastest lap, and Sainteloc Racing’s Theophile Nael was 0.236s slower than Giusti in fifth. By the end of the session, the top 21 were spread by less than a second on pace.
Nael initially led the way when the first representative laptimes were set, with team-mate Matteo de Palo the first driver to lap sub-1m43s. Giusti then lowered the pace twice before Zachary David and team-mate Taponen took turns at the top.
Giusti moved back ahead with a 1m41.278s, then Badoer got involved at the top and had a long-standing 1m40.898s benchmark. It took 22 minutes before somebody beat it, with Camara edging ahead by 0.038s.
That was immediately beaten by a 1m40.766s from Giusti, with Wharton and Taponen also briefly holding first place two minutes later before Giusti crossed the line with a 1m40.333s.
The fight to be quickest in session two was primarily between Badoer and Camara, repeatedly trading fastest laps before Badoer set a 1m40.077s that put him ahead of his rival by 0.04s and could not be beaten.
His team-mates Ivan Domingues and Clerot were just 0.065s and 0.073s slower than him, and Giusti completed a top five covered by 0.098s.
Trident’s Roman Bilinski was 18th fastest overall on his return to the cockpit, having missed several rounds after breaking his back earlier in the season.
The only drivers not to set personal bests in session two were Taponen, who was still sixth fastest overall, Enzo Peugeot (Sainteloc), Enzo Deligny (R-ace), Doriane Pin (Iron Dames) and Niko Lacorte (Trident).
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brando Badoer | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m40.077s | 39 | |
| 2 | Rafael Camara | Prema | 1m40.117s | +0.040s | 37 |
| 3 | Ivan Domingues | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m40.142s | +0.065s | 39 |
| 4 | Pedro Clerot | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m40.150s | +0.073s | 41 |
| 5 | Alessandro Giusti | ART Grand Prix | 1m40.175s | +0.098s | 39 |
| 6 | Tuukka Taponen | R-ace GP | 1m40.383s | +0.306s | 37 |
| 7 | Nikita Bedrin | MP Motorsport | 1m40.433s | +0.356s | 34 |
| 8 | Theophile Nael | Sainteloc Racing | 1m40.445s | +0.368s | 39 |
| 9 | Matteo de Palo | Sainteloc Racing | 1m40.556s | +0.479s | 40 |
| 10 | Nikhil Bohra | MP Motorsport | 1m40.622s | +0.545s | 37 |
| 11 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | 1m40.635s | +0.558s | 39 |
| 12 | James Wharton | Prema | 1m40.642s | +0.565s | 35 |
| 13 | Enzo Peugeot | Sainteloc Racing | 1m40.713s | +0.636s | 39 |
| 14 | Ugo Ugochukwu | Prema | 1m40.761s | +0.684s | 37 |
| 15 | Valerio Rinicella | MP Motorsport | 1m40.770s | +0.693s | 39 |
| 16 | Roman Bilinski | Trident | 1m40.776s | +0.699s | 38 |
| 17 | Zachary David | R-ace GP | 1m40.787s | +0.710s | 39 |
| 18 | Noah Stromsted | Race Performance Motorsport | 1m40.910s | +0.833s | 30 |
| 19 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | 1m40.966s | +0.889s | 36 |
| 20 | Kanato Le | G4 Racing | 1m40.976s | +0.899s | 36 |
| 21 | Ruiqi Liu | Trident | 1m41.062s | +0.985s | 37 |
| 22 | Doriane Pin | Iron Dames | 1m41.139s | +1.062s | 41 |
| 23 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | KIC Motorsport | 1m41.208s | +1.131s | 36 |
| 24 | Edgar Pierre | Race Performance Motorsport | 1m41.497s | +1.420s | 38 |
| 25 | Giovanni Maschio | Race Performance Motorsport | 1m41.519s | +1.442s | 34 |
| 26 | Niko Lacorte | Trident | 1m41.643s | +1.566s | 32 |
| 27 | Romain Andriolo | G4 Racing | 1m41.727s | +1.650s | 30 |
| 28 | Maya Weug | KIC Motorsport | 1m41.736s | +1.659s | 35 |
| 29 | Marta Garcia | Iron Dames | 1m42.014s | +1.937s | 43 |
| 30 | Yaroslav Veselaho | ART Grand Prix | 1m42.612s | +2.535s | 38 |