Mini starts second pre-season FREC test on top

Photo: FRECA

ART Grand Prix’s Gabriele Mini set the pace in both sessions on the first day of Formula Regional European Championship pre-season testing at Paul Ricard.

Mini was on top through most of the morning session, setting an early 1m58.053s benchmark that kept him on top until two-and-a-half hours into the day’s running when MP Motorsport’s Michael Belov set a 1m57.591s.

On Mini’s next run he reclaimed first with a 1m57.538s, and followed that up with a 1m57.226s. A late 1m58.838s effort from Prema’s Paul Aron put him in third, with R-ace GP’s Gabriel Bortoleto fourth ahead of ART GP’s Mari Boya who had been in second during the second hour of running and set his personal best at the same time as Mini.

The third ART GP car of Laurens van Hoepen was sixth fastest, and he and Boya missed the afternoon.

MP’s Dilano van’t Hoff also spent time as Mini’s closest opponent on pace, but his time in second was brief and a flurry of late laps from across the field meant he was shuffled down to 11th place.

Tim Tramnitz was fastest for Trident at first in the afternoon, but much of that session featured Aron at the top. He set a 1m58.383s that went unbeaten for two hours and 15 minutes until Bortoleto broke into the 1m57s.

Mini was next to beat that barrier and set a session-topping 1m57.707s lap with 18 minutes to to go. Belov was a late improver to be second fastest again, and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Kas Haverkort was fourth and the fastest driver to improve on their morning pace.

There were 21 improvers, with R-ace’s Lorenzo Fluxa rising from 22nd to 13th in the overall leaderboard.

Test results