Rene Binder was quickest overall during the Collective Test sessions at the Bahrain International Circuit as the final round of the World Series Formula V8 3.5 season got underway on Thursday.
The Lotus driver, one of five drivers racing this weekend still in with a chance of the championship, set the pace in the night session in Bahrain with a best lap of 1:44.153s, more than half a second ahead of Fortec Motorsports’ Diego Menchaca.
Alfonso Celis Jr. followed his Fortec team-mate in third, a further 0.259 seconds back, while Matevos Isaakyan, currently second in the championship standings, ten points behind Pietro Fittipaldi, was fourth.
Konstantin Tereschenko, racing this weekend for SMP Racing by AVF in place of the ill Egor Orudzhev after Teo Martin Motorsport decided not to race in Bahrain, was fifth ahead of debutant Henrique Chaves of AVF, while Lotus’ Fittipaldi trailed down in eighth behind RP Motorsport’s Roy Nissany, with Yu Kanamaru and Tatiana Calderon completing the field.
The earlier session saw Menchaca on top with a 1:45.246s, 0.315 seconds ahead of Fittipaldi, with Tereschenko up in third ahead of Binder and Isaakyan.
Just ten cars are racing this weekend, with Teo Martin Motorsport and Il Barone Rampante not making the trip, but Isaakyan, Celis Jr., Binder and Nissany are all in with a chance of the title this weekend, although Fittipaldi can clinch the title in race one should other result go his way.
Bahrain International Circuit Collective Test 1 Result
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Bahrain International Circuit Collective Test 2 Result
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