Home Formula 4ADAC F4 Dunne fastest on F4 return in ADAC practice, Catalano drops out

Dunne fastest on F4 return in ADAC practice, Catalano drops out

by Ida Wood

Photo: ADAC

US Racing’s new signing Alex Dunne topped both ADAC Formula 4 practice sessions at Hockenheim on Friday.

Both sessions occurred in the morning, and there were 13 cars on track as BWR Motorsports was without Valentino Catalano after the reigning French F4 Junior champion ran out of budget over summer. It means the team is only running Nico Rosbeg protege Taylor Barnard this weekend.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s points leader Ollie Bearman initially set the pace in FP1, witg R-ace GP’s Victor Bernier then becoming the first driver to break into the 1m43s as multiple drivers were warned for violating track limits at turn one.

Bearman put himself back on top by moving into the 1m42s, and was then edged by US’s Tim Tramnitz before responding with an improvement of half a second. Tramnitz was first to reach the 1m41s mark on his next lap, as Dunne snuck into second place.

There were further improvements from Tramnitz until with just over 11 minutes to go, Dunne moved into first place. He kept himself there until the end, with most drivers heading to the pits during that final segment, and ended up fastest by 0.290 seconds ahead of Bearman who set his personal best on his final lap.

Dunne spent more of FP2 on top, and didn’t take long to be lapping in the 1m41s. However he was also the cause of a red flag with an issue in the final sector, and that shortened the session.

Tramnitz was second quickest, 0.051s back, while Bearman’s FP1 time put him third overall in free practice. US’s Vlad Lomko in fourth was also a non-improver, while going fourth in FP2 but VAR’s Nikita Bedrin in fifth overall.

Free practice results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Alex Dunne US Racing 1m40.998s 23
2 Tim Tramnitz US Racing 1m41.049s +0.051s 24
3 Ollie Bearman Van Amersfoort Racing 1m41.380s +0.382s 27
4 Vlad Lomko US Racing 1m41.507s +0.509s 24
5 Nikita Bedrin Van Amersfoort Racing 1m41.587s +0.589s 27
6 Joshua Dufek Van Amersfoort Racing 1m41.688s +0.690s 25
7 Luke Browning US Racing 1m41.781s +0.783s 24
8 Victor Bernier R-ace GP 1m41.841s +0.843s 25
9 Bence Valint Van Amersfoort Racing 1m41.900s +0.902s 27
10 Taylor Barnard BWR Motorsports 1m42.090s +1.092s 24
11 Sami Meguetounif R-ace GP 1m42.594s +1.596s 22
12 Marcus Amand R-ace GP 1m42.650s +1.652s 22
13 Michael Sauter Sauter Engineering+Design 1m42.856s +1.858s 27