Photo: Iain Mackenzie
Euroformula Open championship leader Marino Sato set the free practice pace at Spa-Francorchamps, which marked the return of RP Motorsport.
The Italian team, the most successful in EF Open history, had a pointless first round of the season and has absent since while switching from Piedrafita to Spiess engines. Javier Gonzalez got the team into eighth place, 1.683 seconds off the pace of Sato.
Motopark driver Sato and Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist were the only two drivers to break into the 2m12s, with Lundqvist’s late flyer putting him 0.157s behind.
Joining Lundqvist in setting a lap just before the chequered flag was Teo Martin Motorsport’s Lukas Dunner, who ended up almost a second behind with Sato’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda.
Carlin’s Christian Hahn made it four teams in the top five, some distance ahead of Tsunoda’s fellow Red Bull junior and team-mate Liam Lawson.
Pierre-Louis Chovet put the second RP Motorsport car in 10th place, while title-winning MSV F3 Cup team CF Racing made its championship debut with 18th and 20th for Stefano Leaney and Stuart Wiltshire.
They sandwiched Drivex School’s Franco Colapinto, stepping up from Spanish Formula 4 with Drivex School.
Free Practice results
| Pos | Name | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marino Sato | Motopark | 2m12.726s |
| 2 | Linus Lundqvist | Double R Racing | +0.157s |
| 3 | Lukas Dunner | Teo Martin Motorsport | +0.955s |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | Motopark | +0.972s |
| 5 | Christian Hahn | Carlin | +1.058s |
| 6 | Liam Lawson | Motopark | +1.407s |
| 7 | Nicolai Kjaergaard | Carlin | +1.617s |
| 8 | Javier Gonzalez | RP Motorsport | +1.683s |
| 9 | Julian Hanses | Motopark | +1.774s |
| 10 | Pierre-Louis Chovet | RP Motorsport | +1.837s |
| 11 | Teppei Natori | Carlin | +1.844s |
| 12 | Billy Monger | Carlin | +1.929s |
| 13 | Jack Doohan | Double R Racing | +2.347s |
| 14 | Guilherme Samaia | Teo Martin Motorsport | +2.386s |
| 15 | Calan Williams | Fortec Motorsports | +2.495s |
| 16 | Rui Andrade | Drivex School | +2.817s |
| 17 | Cameron Das | Fortec Motorsports | +2.879s |
| 18 | Stefano Leaney | CF Racing | +3.356s |
| 19 | Franco Colapinto | Drivex School | +5.007s |
| 20 | Stuart Wiltshire | CF Racing | +5.150s |
| 21 | Aldo Festante | Teo Martin Motorsport | no time |