Popov and Killion set the pace in FREC and F4 test at Mugello

Photo: Trident

The Formula Regional European Championship and Italian Formula 4 held a collective post-season test at Mugello this week.

On Tuesday they shared the track for two sessions, then had four sessions each on Wednesday. F4 drivers were alone on Thursday, which had a morning and afternoon session.

Maximilian Popov was fastest on day one. In session one he set a 1m42.550s to lead R-ace GP’s Rashid Al Dhaheri by 0.285 seconds and Trident team-mate Andrija Kostic by 0.306s. There were eight drivers on track, and Tatuus was also testing its new-for-2026 second-generation FRegional car.

Popov improved slightly to 1m42.501s in the afternoon, with Al Dhaheri 0.187s behind and Race Performance Motorsport’s drivers also within half a second of him.

The pace was lowered to 1m41.291s by Popov the next morning, putting him 0.386s ahead of the driver of R-P-M’s #74 car as everyone improved. A 1m41.633s put the driver of R-P-M’s #210 on top by just 0.01s over their team-mate in session four, with Al Dhaheri and Popov 0.163s and 0.174s behind.

Laptimes were a lot slower in session five, with R-P-M’s #74 driver by 0.099s ahead of Popov at the top, as in session six where Kostic posted a 1m42.144s to sit 0.187s ahead of Popov.

In F4, the driver of AKM’s #55 had set the pace on Tuesday morning with a 1m51.018s, leading Cram Motorsport’s Rafael Vaessen by 0.106s, then Vaessen set a 1m50.914s in the afternoon to move ahead of them by 0.16s.

The F4 entry list grew from four cars to 31 on Wednesday, and the driver of Jenzer Motorsport’s #21 car set a 1m50.360s early in the day. Closest to him was Prema’s Niccolo Maccagnani, who recently did private Formula 2 testing at Monza, 0.975s off the pace.

Maccagnani improved to 1m49.427s in session four, pipping team-mate Alp Hasan Aksoy by 0.009s while US Racing’s Ludovico Busso was 0.544s back in third as a second split the top seven.

In session five, Maccagnani lowered the pace further to 1m49.302s, leading Jenzer’s #21 driver by 0.156s, the driver of US’s #998 car by 0.373s and US’s Noah Killion by 0.412s. The top 10 were covered by a second, and all but seven drivers set personal bests.

Wednesday concluded with Busso topping session six. He set a 1m50.420s, and PHM Racing’s Iacopo Martinese and R-ace’s Emilty Cotty were his closest rivals. A second seperated first and 15th place as only two drivers improved.

It was grippy on Thursday morning, and 22 of the 26 drivers on track found gains with a close top 15 again. Killion posted a 1m49.158s that would go unbeaten, and he ended up fastest by 0.077s over Maccagnani and with a 0.329s gap to US’s Ary Bansal. Just 0.069s split he and three team-mates behind.

There were 11 improvers in the afternoon, and Jenzer’s #21 driver topped the timesheet with a 1m49.337s that put them third overall. They were 0.021s quicker than Bansal, with gaps of just 0.033s and 0.093s to Aksoy and Busso. A second covered the top 13.

Test results