Bedrin fastest again in first afternoon of F3 testing at Imola

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Nikita Bedrin made it two sessions out of two in first place after going fastest in Formula 3 testing at Imola on Tuesday afternoon.

The Jenzer Motorsport driver had also been fastest in the morning, and left it late to top the times in the day’s second session.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez set the early pace in the afternoon with a 1m34.028s lap, with MP Motorsport and PHM Racing by Charouz the only other two teams on track in the first 10 minutes.

MP’s Franco Colapinto lowered the pace into the 1m32s and then the 1m31s, with team-mate Mari Boya sitting in second place 15 minutes into the three-hour session.

Colapinto was still on top when red flags were waved after 45 minutes when Trident’s Gabriel Bortoleto stopped at turn six with a technical problem, with Hitech GP’s Luke Browning having gone second fastest prior to the session behing stopped.

After action resumed, Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti and VAR’s Caio Collet both bettered Colapinto, with Marti going fastest by 0.606 seconds.

Hitech’s Gabriele Mini also broke the 1m32s barrier, then in the third hour of the session he set a new benchmark laptime of 1m31.141s.

Bortoleto was able to return to track once his car was repaired and he improved his pace, going fourth fastest and then moving to the front with a 1m31.123s in the final 50 minutes.

His team-mates also improved in the final hour, as did Prema’s trio of drivers who went out later than the rest of the field. Dino Beganovic went third fastest with 34 minutes to go, and team-mate Paul Aron rose up to fifth place.

Bortoleto maintained his place at the front shortly after by setting a 1m30.690s, being the first driver to lap sub-1m31s, but then the session was red flagged when team-mate Leonardo Fornaroli beached his car in the gravel at turn 18.

There was 15 minutes to go when green flags were waved again, and several drivers set out with the intention of improving their pace.

Bedrin went fastest with 10 minutes left on the clock, setting a 1m30.368s, just as Beganovic set a 1m31.111s to maintain his place in third and now ahead of Mini.

Another red flag period caused by Boya prevented further improvements, meaning Bedrin topped the times by 0.322s over Bortoleto, with Beganovic, Mini, Marti, ART Grand Prix’s Gregoire Saucy and Aron the only drivers within a second of his pace.

Afternoon session results