Photo: Roberto Piccinini / Fast Lane Promotion
Fortec Motorsports driver Charles Leclerc topped both free practice sessions of Formula Renault 2.0 Alps’ penultimate meeting of the season at Mugello.
In both the morning and the afternoon sessions, Leclerc narrowly led championship leader Nyck de Vries, who comes into the round with a strong shot at sealing the drivers’ title.
In session one, Leclerc dethroned de Vries with a late flyer which would prove to be the only sub 1:45 lap of the session. The Dutchman settled for second, while Leclerc’s squadmate Martin Kodric was more than half a second down in third.
Stefan Riener took fourth ahead of JD’s Matevos Isaakyan and Eurocup guest Jack Aitken. MGR’s Pietro Fittipaldi, who brought his count of consecutive victories up to eight in the Protyre Formula Renault series last weekend, was seventh, with Marek Bockmann, Egor Orudzhev and George Russell bringing up the top ten.
De Vries came close to turning the tides in session two, but his last-second best effort ended up 0.014s slower than Leclerc’s earlier lap.
Prema’s Dennis Olsen was third, leading Isaakyan and squadmate Bruno Bonifacio.
Riener was sixth ahead of Russell, while Matt Parry, Hans Villemi and Fittipaldi rounded out the top ten.
De Vries comes into the weekend 70 points ahead of Leclerc and 78 ahead of Isaakyan, with 100 left up for grabs in the championship.
Combined practice results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | FP1 | FP2 |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Fortec Motorsports | 1:44.754 | 1:44.145 |
| 2 | Nyck de Vries | Koiranen GP | 1:45.017 | 1:44.159 |
| 3 | Dennis Olsen | Prema Powerteam | 1:45.931 | 1:44.802 |
| 4 | Matevos Isaakyan | JD Motorsport | 1:45.479 | 1:44.905 |
| 5 | Bruno Bonifacio | Prema Powerteam | 1:45.831 | 1:45.087 |
| 6 | Stefan Riener | Cram Motorsport | 1:45.392 | 1:45.176 |
| 7 | George Russell | Koiranen GP | 1:45.709 | 1:45.199 |
| 8 | Matt Parry | Fortec Motorsports | 1:46.382 | 1:45.259 |
| 9 | Martin Kodric | Fortec Motorsports | 1:45.305 | 1:46.264 |
| 10 | Hans Villemi | Prema Powerteam | 1:46.210 | 1:45.338 |
| 11 | Pietro Fittipaldi | MGR Motorsport | 1:45.571 | 1:45.479 |
| 12 | Dario Capitanio | BVM Racing | 1:45.824 | 1:45.524 |
| 13 | Jack Aitken | Fortec Motorsports | 1:45.552 | 1:48.023 |
| 14 | Marek Bockmann | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:45.614 | 1:46.899 |
| 15 | Thiago Vivacqua | Fortec Motorsports | 1:46.307 | 1:45.638 |
| 16 | Alex Bosak | Prema Powerteam | 1:46.028 | 1:45.675 |
| 17 | Egor Orudzhev | Tech 1 Racing | 1:45.675 | No Time |
| 18 | Hugo de Sadeleer | Tech 1 Racing | 1:46.115 | 1:45.714 |
| 19 | Anthoine Hubert | Tech 1 Racing | 1:48.186 | 1:45.783 |
| 20 | Semen Evstigneev | BVM Racing | 1:46.690 | 1:45.828 |
| 21 | Luke Chudleigh | Tech 1 Racing | 1:45.969 | 1:45.992 |
| 22 | Vasily Romanov | Tech 1 Racing | 1:47.104 | 1:45.980 |
| 23 | Patric Armand | Tech 1 Racing | 1:46.359 | 1:46.165 |
| 24 | Denis Korneev | JD Motorsport | 1:46.232 | 1:46.171 |
| 25 | Akash Nandy | Tech 1 Racing | 1:46.418 | 1:46.199 |
| 26 | Danyil Pronenko | BVM Racing | 1:46.202 | 1:46.696 |
| 27 | Simon Gachet | ARTA Engineering | 1:47.059 | 1:46.459 |
| 28 | Hong Li Ye | Koiranen GP | 1:46.645 | 1:50.284 |
| 29 | Matteo Gonfiantini | TS Corse | 1:46.970 | 1:47.281 |
| 30 | James Allen | ARTA Engineering | 1:47.970 | 1:47.225 |
| 31 | Daniele Cazzaniga | GSK Grand Prix | 1:48.482 | 1:47.500 |
| 32 | Pietro Peccenini | TS Corse | 1:48.894 | 1:49.046 |
| 33 | Andrea Baiguera | Brixia Horse Power | 1:50.573 | 1:49.059 |
| 34 | Alessio Rovera | Cram Motorsport | No Time | 1:50.140 |
Personal best time in?bold
Best time of session in?italics