Photo: FRAC
Gabriele Mini maintained Hitech GP’s strong pre-event testing pace in Friday free practice for the opening Formula Regional Asian Championship round at Yas Marina Circuit.
Mini was fastest in each of the lap’s three sectors, and topped the single 30-minute session with a 1m51.260s lap that put him 0.4 seconds ahead of Mumbai Falcons’ Arthur Leclerc. Leclerc had been the first driver to break the 1m52s barrier and topped the times until Mini demoted him with his final lap of the session.
Leclerc’s 2022 FIA Formula 3 team-mate, Jak Crawford, had traded fastest times with his two rivals throughout the session but had to settle for third place, just 0.057s down on Leclerc.
Hadrien David was the top 3Y Technology by R-ace GP driver in fourth place with team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto in sixth, split by Mumbai Falcons’ Dino Beganovic.
Thursday’s testing pacesetter Isack Hadjar could only manage seventh place for Hitech.
Formula 2-bound Cem Bolukbasi continued his strong form with Evans GP, going eighth fastest.
Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Paul Aron was ninth for Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema, with Oliver Goethe rounding out the top 10 for 3Y by R-ace. In 11th place, Sebastian Montoya was the fastest rookie for Mumbai Falcons.
BlackArts Racing was without Alister Yoong, who had in testing driven the car initially set to be used by Ido Cohen before he was ruled out of this weekend.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gabriele Mini | Hitech GP | 1m51.260s | 14 | |
| 2 | Arthur Leclerc | Mumbai Falcons | 1m51.660s | +0.400s | 13 |
| 3 | Jak Crawford | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | 1m51.717s | +0.457s | 14 |
| 4 | Hadrien David | 3Y by R-ace GP | 1m51.840s | +0.580s | 12 |
| 5 | Dino Beganovic | Mumbai Falcons | 1m51.880s | +0.620s | 13 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | 3Y by R-ace GP | 1m51.948s | +0.688s | 11 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 1m51.971s | +0.711s | 14 |
| 8 | Cem Bolukbasi | Evans GP | 1m52.131s | +0.871s | 14 |
| 9 | Paul Aron | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | 1m52.192s | +0.932s | 14 |
| 10 | Oliver Goethe | 3Y by R-ace GP | 1m52.228s | +0.968s | 11 |
| 11 | Sebastian Montoya | Mumbai Falcons | 1m52.259s | +0.999s | 14 |
| 12 | Lorenzo Fluxa | 3Y by R-ace GP | 1m52.316s | +1.056s | 11 |
| 13 | Dilano van’t Hoff | Pinnacle Motorsport | 1m52.346s | +1.086s | 14 |
| 14 | Pepe Marti | Pinnacle Motorsport | 1m52.459s | +1.199s | 10 |
| 15 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Hitech GP | 1m52.513s | +1.253s | 13 |
| 16 | Joshua Dufek | Hitech GP | 1m52.556s | +1.296s | 14 |
| 17 | Frederick Lubin | Evans GP | 1m52.809s | +1.549s | 13 |
| 18 | Nicola Marinangeli | Evans GP | 1m53.055s | +1.795s | 13 |
| 19 | Hamda Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | 1m53.123s | +1.863s | 14 |
| 20 | Levente Revesz | Evans GP Academy | 1m53.831s | +2.571s | 14 |
| 21 | Brice Morabito | BlackArts Racing | 1m53.885s | +2.625s | 13 |
| 22 | David Morales | Evans GP Academy | 1m53.926s | +2.666s | 14 |
| 23 | Amna Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | 1m54.013s | +2.753s | 12 |
| 24 | Ayato Iwasaki | Pinnacle Motorsport | 1m54.185s | +2.925s | 14 |
| 25 | Salih Yoluc | Pinnacle Motorsport | 1m54.424s | +3.164s | 14 |
| 26 | Khaled Al Qubaisi | Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema | 1m54.480s | +3.220s | 14 |
| 27 | Thomas Luedi | BlackArts Racing | 1m56.086s | +4.826s | 13 |
| 28 | Alister Yoong | BlackArts Racing | no time | 0 |