Gomez quickest as 0.042s splits top three in FREC post-season testing

Photo: ACI Sport

ART Grand Prix’s Gabriel Gomez set the pace in Formula Regional Europe Championship post-season testing at Monza.

There were four sessions apiece on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the very first was topped by Trident’s Andrija Kostic.

He posted a 1m44.694s to lead R-ace GP’s Rashid Al Dhaheri by a slim 0.092 seconds and Gomez by 0.156s. Two other drivers were within a second of the pace, and CL Motorsport had a driver in its #9 car who only contested session one before Newman Chi contested the rest of the test in its #20 car.

Trident’s Maximilian Popov lowered the pace to 1m44.053s in session two, just 0.027s quicker than Kostic and with a 0.115s gap to Al Dhaheri. Gomez was fourth, 0.204s off and 0.015s ahead of R-ace’s Emanuele Olivieri. His team-mate Yuki Sano trailed by 0.423s, and Chi was 0.501s slower than Popov as everybody who laid down laptimes set personal bests.

Popov was fastest again in session three, a 1m44.310s putting him 0.259s clear of Olivieri. Although a second covered the top nine, Gomez was the only other driver within half a second of Popov and the three drivers who improved were down the order.

The day’s action concluded with Popov denying Chi top spot in session four. There was 0.033s between the two, with Popov setting a 1m44.546s. Olivieri and Al Dhaheri were just 0.087s and 0.089s behind, and Gomez completed a top five split by 0.195s. Sano was sixth, 0.297s off the pace as Gomez’s two team-mates improved.

Testing’s fastest lap was posted by Gomez on Wednesday morning. His 1m44.038s put him 0.191s ahead of Kostic in session five, and a tiny 0.015s ahead of Popov in the test’s overall classification. Once again the top seven were split by a second, and personal bests were set by five drivers.

Gomez led the way again in session six, a 1m44.117s earning him first place by 0.083s. This time nine drivers were within a second of Gomez, and the five improvers included Chi and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Miguel Costa and Wiktor Dobrzanski.

Laptimes were a slower in session seven, and a 1m45.199s was enough to put Popov on top with a 0.387s gap to Gomez.

Session eighth was also without pace improvements, and Olivieri set a 1m44.566s to top the timesheet. Al Dhaheri trailed by 0.354s in second, and Popov was 0.445s back in third.

Test results