Photo: FRECA
Evan Giltaire continued his strong form ahead of the Formula Regional European Championship as he set the best time across two days of pre-season testing at Paul Ricard.
ART Grand Prix driver Giltaire topped both the morning and afternoon sessions on the opening day of running on Tuesday.
He set a 1m57.727s two-and-a-half hours into the first three-hour session, enough to lead his FRegional Middle East rival Freddie Slater of Prema by 0.454 seconds. His rookie team-mate Taito Kato was just 0.009s behind Slater in third and just 0.002s in front of fellow Japanese driver Hiyu Yamakoshi of Van Amersfoort Racing. Pedro Clerot made it two VAR drivers in the top five, with Kanato Le completing the top six in the third ART entry.
Giltaire went seven tenths of a second quicker in the afternoon, posting a 1m57.012s. Clerot came closest to matching him, finishing 0.059s adrift. Akshay Bohra came third for R-ace GP after doing just six laps in the morning, with team-mate Jin Nakamura fifth behind Yamakoshi.
VAR’s strong pace continued on Wednesday, with Clerot taking over on top in the morning session. He set a best of 1m57.359s, outpacing Prema’s new Mercedes junior Rashid Al Dhaheri by just 0.029s. Matteo de Palo was just 0.007s further back in third for Trident, with Slater fourth in front of Giltaire, Yamakoshi and Kato.
It was then Yamakoshi’s turn to set the pace on the final afternoon with a time of 1m57.470s. Al Dhaheri was second once again, this time 0.259s adrift, with Nakamura third.
Maceo Capietto returned to action in a single CL Motorsport entry after missing the previous test at Misano, with the team’s only confirmed 2025 racer Zachary David – who is also competing in Super Formula Lights this year – not present.
A newcomer to the field for the second day was French driver Arthur Aegerter, who has some previous FRegional experience from the Ultimate Cup Series and joined G4 Racing’s line-up alongside Eduard Borgna and Axel Gnos.
Test results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Evan Giltaire | ART Grand Prix | 1m57.012s | 109 | |
| 2 | Pedro Clerot | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m57.071s | +0.059s | 101 |
| 3 | Akshay Bohra | R-ace GP | 1m57.152s | +0.140s | 101 |
| 4 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | 1m57.388s | +0.376s | 109 |
| 5 | Matteo De Palo | Trident | 1m57.395s | +0.383s | 102 |
| 6 | Hiyu Yamakoshi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m57.412s | +0.400s | 124 |
| 7 | Freddie Slater | Prema | 1m57.435s | +0.423s | 106 |
| 8 | Jin Nakamura | R-ace GP | 1m57.453s | +0.441s | 133 |
| 9 | Taito Kato | ART Grand Prix | 1m57.529s | +0.517s | 114 |
| 10 | Dion Gowda | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m57.548s | +0.536s | 102 |
| 11 | Jack Beeton | Prema | 1m57.598s | +0.586s | 107 |
| 12 | Kanato Le | ART Grand Prix | 1m57.668s | +0.656s | 106 |
| 13 | Enzo Deligny | R-ace GP | 1m57.670s | +0.658s | 119 |
| 14 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | Trident | 1m57.715s | +0.703s | 100 |
| 15 | Ruiqi Liu | Trident | 1m57.875s | +0.863s | 101 |
| 16 | Doriane Pin | Prema | 1m57.792s | +0.780s | 109 |
| 17 | Enzo Peugeot | R-P-M | 1m57.910s | +0.898s | 128 |
| 18 | Nikita Bedrin | Sainteloc Racing | 1m57.931s | +0.919s | 116 |
| 19 | Maceo Capietto | CL Motorsport | 1m58.013s | +1.001s | 94 |
| 20 | Enzo Yeh | R-P-M | 1m58.297s | +1.285s | 117 |
| 21 | Tim Gerhards | Sainteloc Racing | 1m58.153s | +1.141s | 120 |
| 22 | Edouard Borgna | G4 Racing | 1m58.514s | +1.502s | 117 |
| 23 | Giovanni Maschio | R-P-M | 1m58.749s | +1.737s | 111 |
| 24 | Yaroslav Veselaho | Sainteloc Racing | 1m59.052s | +2.040s | 119 |
| 25 | Axel Gnos | G4 Racing | 1m59.477s | +2.465s | 91 |
| 26 | Arthur Aegerter | G4 Racing | 2m01.303s | +4.291s | 36 |