Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography
Mika Abrahams was fastest in British Formula 4’s second practice session at Donington Park, as it was confirmed Tom Mills and Alvise Rodella would join the grid for the weekend.
GB4 points leader Mills and Spanish F4 racer Rodella both appeared on the entry list issued this week, and they confirmed they will be racing on Donington’s full Grand Prix layout rather than being practice-only entries.
“Giving it a go with no previous testing,” Mills said to Formula Scout between practice sessions.
“I’m really not sure with expectations yet, the car is so different compared to the Gen1 car [used in GB4], basically everything you can think of handling-wise is different, and that was my first ever time driving it. I’m not sure of my plans next year, but I’m just using this to gain experience and become a better driver.”
Mills is driving for JHR Developments this weekend, while Rodella will line up for Argenti Motorsport. Also making their series debut is Ginetta Junior points leader Freddie Slater, who is with the returning Double R Racing team.
Five drivers in FP2 beat the 1m28.294s benchmark set by Fortec Motorsports’ Abrahams in FP1, including the South African who topped the times again with a 1m27.819s.
Abrahams was the first to set a representative laptime in FP2, while Slater was first to go sub-1m30s. Hitech GP’s points leader William Macintyre improved twice to bring the pace down to 1m28.875s, with Louis Sharp (Rodin Carlin), Gabriel Stilp (Hitech), Abrahams and James Higgins (Fortec) then improving marginally on the pace.
With a quarter of the 46-minute session to go, Abrahams found a huge improvment and went 0.581 seconds clear with a 1m28.074s. A lap later he went faster by another 0.255s, and in the closing minutes his margin at the top was reduced down to 0.3s as Sharp set a 1m28.119s and Higgins lapped 0.005s slower than him.
Stilp and Chris Dittmann Racing’s Gustav Jonsson also bettered the FP1 pace, while Hitech’s James Piszyck matched it.
Slater ended up 0.596s off the pace in seventh, while Mills was down in 13th and Rodella was 1.281s back in 18th.
Free practice 2 results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mika Abrahams | Fortec Motorsports | 1m27.819s | 28 | |
| 2 | Louis Sharp | Carlin | 1m28.119s | +0.300s | 24 |
| 3 | James Higgins | Fortec Motorsports | 1m28.124s | +0.305s | 26 |
| 4 | Gabriel Stilp | Hitech GP | 1m28.211s | +0.392s | 21 |
| 5 | Gustav Jonsson | Chris Dittmann Racing | 1m28.213s | +0.394s | 25 |
| 6 | James Piszcyk | Hitech GP | 1m28.294s | +0.475s | 22 |
| 7 | Freddie Slater | Double R Racing | 1m28.415s | +0.596s | 22 |
| 8 | William Macintyre | Hitech GP | 1m28.446s | +0.627s | 22 |
| 9 | Deagen Faiclough | JHR Developments | 1m28.461s | +0.642s | 25 |
| 10 | Aqil Alibhai | Virtuosi Racing | 1m28.494s | +0.675s | 25 |
| 11 | Jack Sherwood | Chris Dittmann Racing | 1m28.516s | +0.697s | 23 |
| 12 | Dion Gowda | Carlin | 1m28.571s | +0.752s | 25 |
| 13 | Tom Mills | JHR Developments | 1m28.592s | +0.773s | 23 |
| 14 | Griffin Peebles | Argenti Motorsport | 1m28.699s | +0.880s | 22 |
| 15 | Noah Lisle | Carlin | 1m28.743s | +0.924s | 26 |
| 16 | Patrick Heuzenroeder | Argenti Motorsport | 1m28.851s | +1.032s | 25 |
| 17 | Kanato Le | Hitech GP | 1m28.852s | +1.033s | 21 |
| 18 | Alvise Rodella | Argenti Motorsport | 1m29.100s | +1.281s | 25 |
| 19 | Douwe Dedecker | Virtuosi Racing | 1m29.171s | +1.352s | 23 |
| 20 | Isaac Barashi | Argenti Motorsport | 1m29.226s | +1.407s | 22 |
| 21 | Kai Daryanani | Virtuosi Racing | 1m29.455s | +1.636s | 27 |
| 22 | Josh Irfan | Carlin | 1m29.615s | +1.796s | 21 |