Vitor Baptista and Rene Binder were the pacesetters as the Formula V8 3.5 weekend got underway with the two collective test sessions at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on Friday.
The morning session saw RP Motorsport racer Baptista set the pace despite the Brazilian causing a late red flag with a spin at the Ascari Chicane that caused the premature ending to the session.
His best time of 1:35.545 was enough for him to lead the session by 0.177 seconds from Lotus’ Roy Nissany, who will be looking to pick himself up after a disappointing weekend at the Red Bull Ring last time out.
Louis Deletraz, who currently sits second in the championship standings, was third quickest for Fortec Motorsports ahead of Arden Motorsport’s Egor Orudzhev, while AVF by Adrian Vallés’ Alfonso Celis Jr completed the top five.
The afternoon session was a far quicker affair, with Binder putting his Lotus on top with a best time of 1:33.877, which meant he was 0.039 seconds faster than Orudzhev, while the second Arden of Aurélien Panis was third quickest.
Championship leader Tom Dillmann was fourth quickest after ending the opening session down in eighth, while Nissany completed the top five.
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Collective Test 1 Result
[table id=1526 /]
Autodromo Nazionale Monza Collective Test 2 Result
[table id=1527 /]
