Photo: CSAI-ACI
Formula Renault 2.0 Alps title challenger Luca Ghiotto has taken pole for both races of the final weekend at Imola as he topped the timesheets in the quicker Group B.
Ghiotto, who currently sits 49 points adrift of first with 50 available over the weekend, narrowly managed to clear Antonio Fuoco‘s benchmark time from Group A, and will start alongside the championship leader.
The first 30-minute session saw Fuoco fight for the top spot with practice pacesetter Hans Villemi, who joined Prema for the final weekend of the season. The duo constantly one-upped each other’s times as the track conditions improved, but, finally, Fuoco edged the Estonian out in the end, forcing him to settle for a second row starting spot.
Bruno Bonifacio secured third in Group A with a last-lap effort, overhauling Kuba Dalewski, with Ukyo Sasahara completing the top five.
Group B was a change of pace, as it was dominated by one driver, with Ghiotto setting several early benchmark laps and maintaining the lead until track conditions worsened. The grid order wound up frozen with several minutes to go, when drivers found themselves unable to imrpove, which allowed series debutant Matt Parry to secure third on the grid.
The top five in the session was completed by Simon Gachet and the Tech 1 pair of Luke Chudleigh and Egor Orudzhev.
For race two, the front row order will be the same, with Ghiotto leading Fuoco.
Session results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Group B | Group A |
| 1 | Luca Ghiotto | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.023 | |
| 2 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.168 | |
| 3 | Matt Parry | Koiranen GP | 1:52.661 | |
| 4 | Hans Villemi | SMP Racing by Koiranen | 1:52.228 | |
| 5 | Simon Gachet | ARTA Engineering | 1:52.696 | |
| 6 | Bruno Bonifacio | Prema Powerteam | 1:52.384 | |
| 7 | Luke Chudleigh | Tech 1 Racing | 1:52.970 | |
| 8 | Kuba Dalewski | JD Motorsport | 1:52.788 | |
| 9 | Egor Orudzhev | Tech 1 Racing | 1:53.046 | |
| 10 | Ukyo Sasahara | Euronova Racing | 1:52.834 | |
| 11 | Kevin Jorg | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:53.274 | |
| 12 | Tanart Sathienthirakul | ARTA Engineering | 1:53.339 | |
| 13 | Konstantin Tereshchenko | Interwetten.com Racing | 1:53.795 | |
| 14 | Parth Ghorpade | BVM Racing | 1:54.360 | |
| 15 | Andrew Tang | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:54.275 | |
| 16 | Dzhon Simonyan | GSK Grand Prix | 1:54.468 | |
| 17 | Joffrey De Narda | ARTA Engineering | 1:54.370 | |
| 18 | Dario Capitanio | BVM Racing | 1:54.561 | |
| 19 | Nikita Zlobin | SMP Racing by Koiranen | 1:54.489 | |
| 20 | Denis Korneev | Jenzer Motorsport | 1:54.595 | |
| 21 | Francisco Mora | Interwetten.com Racing | 1:54.506 | |
| 22 | Patric Armand | Tech 1 Racing | 1:55.308 | |
| 23 | Semen Evstigneev | SMP Racing by Koiranen | 1:55.002 | |
| 24 | Alex Bosak | SMP Racing by Koiranen | 1:55.397 | |
| 25 | Pietro Peccenini | TS Corse | 1:56.612 | |
| 26 | Gregor Ramsay | Euronova Racing | 1:55.674 | |
| 27 | Danyil Pronenko | GSK Grand Prix | 1:56.693 | |
| 28 | Daniele Cazzaniga | Viola Formula Racing | 1:55.706 |