Photo: Monlau Competicion
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pablo Sarrazin was fastest on the second day of testing for Italian Formula 4 teams at Paul Ricard.
KCMG junior Sarrazin topped the first and last sessions of Tuesday, with his 2m04.980s set early in the morning standing as the fastest lap of the day. The Frenchman is joining VAR for the new Euro 4 series which starts at Mugello this weekend.
In total, 26 of the 36 drivers set their fastest lap in the day’s first session, with PHM Racing’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi improving in session two while nine drivers unlocked more pace in the day’s fourth and final session.
Sarrazin’s advantage in the day’s opening session was a slim 0.183 seconds, with PHM Racing’s James Egozi going second fastest and with both off the pace of the previous day.
VAR’s Ivan Domingues was 0.264s behind in third, and in total there were 18 drivers who got within a second of Sarrazin’s benchmark.
The pace was slower in session two, with US Racing’s Akshay Bohra pipping Egozi to top spot by 0.034s. This time the top 23 were split by less than a second, with 1.617s covering the top 30.
Bhirombhakdi was third fastest, and Griffin Peebles was fourth for Jenzer Motorsport. Peebles told Formula Scout that he will join Jenzer’s line-up for the Italian F4 round at Paul Ricard later this month, having raced in the series for AKM Motorsport earlier this year.
Laptimes got even slower in the afternoon in session three, which the driver of AKM’s #87 car topped with a 2m05.937s lap. That put him 0.337s ahead of Jenzer’s day one pacesetter Ethan Ischer, with US’s Kacper Sztuka 0.428s behind in third.
It was still a close field overall, with Peebles in 16th only 0.990s off the pace and 1.936s covering the top 26.
Sarrazin returned to the top in session four by setting a 2m04.989s, being the only driver all day to lap sub-2m05s. Domingues moved into third overall by lapping 0.222s slower than Sarrazin, and Egozi was third fastest in the session.
Brando Badoer, the driver of the #87 and Tina Hausmann were in the session’s top 10 and improved their pace, as did five other drivers including VAR’s new Euro 4 signing Lund.
Day two results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pablo Sarrazin | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m04.980s | 78 | |
| 2 | James Egozi | PHM Racing | 2m05.163s | +0.183s | 74 |
| 3 | Ivan Domingues | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m05.211s | +0.231s | 81 |
| 4 | Brando Badoer | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m05.249s | +0.269s | 75 |
| 5 | Kacper Sztuka | US Racing | 2m05.400s | +0.420s | 65 |
| 6 | Akshay Bohra | US Racing | 2m05.445s | +0.465s | 63 |
| 7 | Raphael Narac | R-ace GP | 2m05.517s | +0.537s | 78 |
| 8 | Zachary David | US Racing | 2m05.590s | +0.610s | 62 |
| 9 | Matteo Quintarelli | R-ace GP | 2m05.662s | +0.682s | 69 |
| 10 | Jack Beeton | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m05.687s | +0.707s | 64 |
| 11 | Alfio Spina | BVM Racing | 2m05.794s | +0.814s | 72 |
| 12 | Ariel Elkin | Jenzer Motorsport | 2m05.819s | +0.839s | 71 |
| 13 | #87 | AKM Motorsport | 2m05.820s | +0.840s | 62 |
| 14 | Rashid Al Dhaheri | Prema | 2m05.834s | +0.854s | 35 |
| 15 | Tina Hausmann | AKM Motorsport | 2m05.838s | +0.858s | 46 |
| 16 | Alvise Rodella | Maffi Racing | 2m05.861s | +0.881s | 72 |
| 17 | Ruiqi Liu | US Racing | 2m05.882s | +0.902s | 44 |
| 18 | Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi | PHM Racing | 2m05.898s | +0.918s | 71 |
| 19 | Griffin Peebles | Jenzer Motorsport | 2m05.924s | +0.944s | 67 |
| 20 | Valentin Kluss | PHM Racing | 2m05.936s | +0.956s | 73 |
| 21 | Gianmarco Pradel | US Racing | 2m06.043s | +1.063s | 61 |
| 22 | Frederik Lund | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m06.090s | +1.110s | 73 |
| 23 | Ethan Ischer | Jenzer Motorsport | 2m06.138s | +1.158s | 74 |
| 24 | Victoria Blokhina | PHM Racing | 2m06.173s | +1.193s | 55 |
| 25 | Niko Lacorte | Prema | 2m06.247s | +1.267s | 34 |
| 26 | Kim Hwarang | Jenzer Motorsport | 2m06.248s | +1.268s | 67 |
| 27 | Aurelia Nobels | Prema | 2m06.288s | +1.308s | 10 |
| 28 | Kabir Anurag | R-ace GP | 2m06.406s | +1.426s | 76 |
| 29 | #25 JMS | Jenzer Motorsport | 2m06.468s | +1.488s | 67 |
| 30 | Ismail Akhmed | Van Amersfoort Racing | 2m06.703s | +1.723s | 75 |
| 31 | Diego de la Torre | AKM Motorsport | 2m06.890s | +1.910s | 77 |
| 32 | Davide Larini | AKM Motorsport | 2m06.973s | +1.993s | 78 |
| 33 | Giacomo Pedrini | Newman Motorsport | 2m07.058s | +2.078s | 71 |
| 34 | #3 VII | team unknown | 2m07.236s | +2.256s | 56 |
| 35 | Laura Villars | R-ace GP | 2m08.805s | +3.825s | 64 |
| 36 | Andreas Ritzi | DS Performance Driving | 2m09.832s | +4.852s | 41 |