Home Formula 4British F4 Mini fastest in FREC at Mugello as British F4 announces test tie-up

Mini fastest in FREC at Mugello as British F4 announces test tie-up

by Ida Wood

Photo: FRECA

Gabriele Mini topped day two of the private Formula Regional European Championship test at Mugello, as British Formula 4 announced it will offer a test to its 2022 champion.

A launch event held at Bicester Heritage on Friday (November 26) which showcased the new Tatuus T-421 car that will be used in British F4 from next year. There were two invitational prizes announced at the event, with next year’s champion being offered the chance to take part in a FREC test for free and to attend a grand prix with the McLaren Formula 1 team.

There were two drivers from this year’s British F4 grid in action at Mugello, as title runner-up Matias Zagazeta was testing with Arden and Roman Bilinski was driving for ART Grand Prix.

His teat team-mate Mini started the day on top in cold conditions, setting a 1m59.078s to put himself eight tenths of a second clear of Tim Tramnitz in another of ART GP’s cars. Spanish F4 champions Dilano van’t Hoff (MP Motorsport) and Kas Haverkort (Van Amersfoort Racing) were the only other two drivers in a second of Mini’s pace.

Haverkort went over 14s faster to top the next morning session as the track conditions improved, with R-ace GP’s Hadrien David his closest rival in a more densely packed top end of the order. MP also added another car for Joshua Dufek.

The track got even grippier in the afternoon, with David knocking three seconds off Haverkort’s benchmark in session three of the day. DR Formula’s Santiago Ramos and Arden’s Joshua Duerksen were just over a tenth slower than him.

Mini returned to the top in the final session ahead of Haverkort and David. Ramos and Duerksen failed to improve in the final session and dropped to sixth and seventh overall for the day, behind Sami Meguetounif – driving for the incoming Trident team – and VAR’s Mari Boya.

G4 Racing’s Daniel Ligier missed the afternoon entirely and so ended up 14s off the pace.

Test results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Gabriele Mini ART Grand Prix 1m42.175s 63
2 Kas Haverkort Van Amersfoort Racing 1m42.467s +0.292s 62
3 Hadrien David R-ace GP 1m42.586s +0.411s 59
4 Sami Meguetounif Trident 1m42.681s +0.506s 65
5 Mari Boya Van Amersfoort Racing 1m42.695s +0.520s 57
6 Santiago Ramos DR Formula 1m42.738s +0.563s 62
7 Joshua Duerksen Arden 1m42.748s +0.573s 65
8 Dilano van’t Hoff MP Motorsport 1m42.830s +0.655s 71
9 Kirill Smal Arden 1m42.847s +0.672s 66
10 Victor Bernier G4 Racing 1m42.857s +0.682s 67
11 Gabriel Bortoleto R-ace GP 1m42.859s +0.684s 59
12 Leonardo Fornaroli FA Racing by MP 1m42.973s +0.798s 64
13 Joshua Dufek MP Motorsport 1m43.149s +0.974s 56
14 Francesco Braschi Trident 1m43.314s +1.139s 64
15 Tim Tramnitz ART Grand Prix 1m43.379s +1.204s 68
16 Francesco Pizzi FA Racing by MP 1m43.426s +1.251s 67
17 Owen Tangavelou G4 Racing 1m43.485s +1.310s 63
18 Roman Bilinski ART Grand Prix 1m43.529s +1.354s 66
19 Lorenzo Fluxa R-ace GP 1m43.606s +1.431s 59
20 Laurens van Hoepen ART Grand Prix 1m43.635s +1.460s 68
21 Esteban Masson R-ace GP 1m43.730s +1.555s 59
22 Levente Revesz Van Amersfoort Racing 1m43.829s +1.654s 71
23 Axel Gnos G4 Racing 1m43.963s +1.788s 63
24 Nicolas Baptiste FA Racing by MP 1m44.034s +1.859s 64
25 Matias Zagazeta Arden 1m44.127s +1.952s 69
26 Filip Ugran Trident 1m44.442s +2.267s 50
27 Daniel Ligier G4 Racing 1m56.912s +14.737s 21