Bortoleto fastest for R-ace GP on day one of FREC test at Red Bull Ring

Photo: FRECA

Gabriel Bortoleto topped both sessions on the first day of the private Formula Regional European Championship test at the Red Bull Ring.

The Brazilian raced for FA Racing this year, but has switched to R-ace GP for post-season testing along with Tim Tramnitz (who raced for US Racing in Formula 4), GB3 race-winner Roman Bilinski and British F4 runner-up Matias Zagazeta.

It was Mari Boya, who has moved from Van Amersfoort Racing to ART Grand Prix, who set the pace through much of the morning session on Tuesday until Tramnitz went to the top with three quarters of an hour to go.

His 1m26.174s lap put him just 0.008 seconds ahead of Boya, and both were surpassed with 17 minutes to go when Prema’s Dino Beganovic broke into the 1m25s.

The Ferrari junior improved after going fastest, but in the final 10 minutes there was a flurry of track activity and he was shuffled back to fourth by Bortoleto, Tramnitz and MP Motorsport’s Pietro Delli Guanti.

Bortoleto’s fastest lap, set at the end, was almost half a second clear of everyone else.

French F4 graudate Daniel Ligier began the afternoon session on top for G4 Racing, but failed to improve thereon while Delli Guanti – who raced for Monolite this year – found gains to sit in first place for an hour-and-a-half while Arden’s Joshua Duerksen and Eduardo Barrichello disputed second place.

R-ace was on a different run plan and sent its drivers out in the final hour. Bortoleto shot to the top with a 1m25.615s, slower than his morning benchmark, while Tramnitz improved as he rose to second ahead of late improvers Barrichello and Duerksen.

There were also four F4 cars on track, with Cram Motorsport’s Ricardo Escotto fastest in the morning and afternoon. R-ace ran Nikhil Bohra, who made his single-seater debut with the team in last weekend’s ADAC F4 season finale, while Prema had Ferrari-backed karter James Wharton and Charlie Wurz in its cars.

Wharton may race for Prema in F4 United Arab Emirates, although the non-championship support race to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix could be cancelled due to supply chain issues.

Test results