Hadrien David Fastest as Thirty-Two Drivers Hit the Track for FRECA Testing at Imola

Thirty-two drivers participated in the opening day of pre-season testing at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Wednesday as preparations for the first season of Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine intensified.

The championship has been formed following the merger of Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Regional European Championship, and it has seen a much-improved number of entries after the individual categories were struggling to fill the grid.

R-ace GP’s Hadrien David, dropped by the Renault Sport Academy at the end of 2020, ended the day with the fastest time overall, with the Frenchman topping both the morning and afternoon sessions at the home of the Emilia Romagna Formula 1 Grand Prix.

David’s best time of 1:38.523 was enough for him to hit top spot, although it was a close-run thing between him and ART Grand Prix’s Grégoire Saucy, with just 0.003 seconds separating the duo.

Such was the competitiveness of the field, the top twenty drivers were all within eight-tenths of a second of David’s time, with R-ace GP’s Zane Maloney and Isack Hadjar finishing the day third and fourth fastest, just 0.038 and 0.043 seconds respectively behind the best time.  For Hadjar, it ensured he concluded the day as the best rookie.

Fifth and sixth came two Arden drivers in William Alatalo and Alex Quinn, with KIC Motorsport’s Patrik Pasma seventh despite causing a red flag for spinning into the gravel at the second turn.

Van Amersfoort Racing also had a driver place inside the top ten, with Francesco Pizzi ending eighth ahead of Monolite Racing’s Pietro Delli Guanti and MP Motorsport’s Kas Haverkort.  Haverkort was the only driver in the test not yet confirmed to race in 2021, but the talented Dutchman is expected to take up the third seat at the team this season.

The leading Prema Powerteam driver was Ferrari Driver Academy star Dino Beganovic in eleventh, with the Swede finishing just ahead of ART Grand Prix duo Gabriele Mini and Thomas ten Brinke.  The other Prema drivers were fourteenth and fifteenth, David Vidales ahead of Paul Aron.

Gabriel Bortoleto was the best placed DR Formula driver in sixteenth ahead of FA Racing’s Andrea Rosso, while Franco Colapinto was only eighteenth for MP Motorsport, albeit only 0.738 seconds off the overall best time.

Elias Seppänen of KIC Motorsport and Lorenzo Fluxá of Van Amersfoort Racing completed the top twenty.

Only two drivers – Alexandre Bardinon and Nico Göhler – failed to improve their time from the morning session when testing resumed in the afternoon, while R-ace GP’s Léna Bühler failed to appear on the track after the lunch break after hurting her hand during the morning session.

As well as Pasma, Bardinon was another driver to cause a red flag by stopping on track, as was JD Motorsport’s Eduardo Barrichello.

Testing continues at Imola on Thursday with two more sessions for the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine drivers to ready themselves for the start of the new season.

POS.	Driver	NAT.	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Hadrien David	FRA	R-ace GP	1m38.523		72
2	Gregoire Saucy	SWI	ART Grand Prix	1m38.526	+0.003s	67
3	Zane Maloney	BAR	R-ace GP	1m38.561	+0.038s	71
4	Isack Hadjar	FRA	R-ace GP	1m38.566	+0.043s	55
5	William Alatalo	FIN	Arden	1m38.728	+0.205s	58
6	Alex Quinn	GBR	Arden	1m38.778	+0.255s	57
7	Patrik Pasma	FIN	KIC Motorsport	1m38.821	+0.298s	62
8	Francesco Pizzi	ITA	Van Amersfoort Racing	1m38.832	+0.309s	52
9	Pietro Delli Guanti	ITA	Monolite Racing	1m38.852	+0.329s	68
10	Kas Haverkort	NED	MP Motorsport	1m38.889	+0.366s	64
11	Dino Beganovic	SWE	Prema	1m38.900	+0.377s	69
12	Gabriele Mini	ITA	ART Grand Prix	1m38.909	+0.386s	69
13	Thomas ten Brinke	NED	ART Grand Prix	1m38.964	+0.441s	66
14	David Vidales	ESP	Prema	1m38.969	+0.446s	73
15	Paul Aron	EST	Prema	1m39.026	+0.503s	63
16	Gabriel Bortoleto	BRZ	DR Formula	1m39.074	+0.551s	78
17	Andrea Rosso	ITA	FA Racing	1m39.105	+0.582s	77
18	Franco Colapinto	ARG	MP Motorsport	1m39.261	+0.738s	51
19	Elias Seppänen	FIN	KIC Motorsport	1m39.311	+0.788s	77
20	Lorenzo Fluxá	ESP	Van Amersfoort Racing	1m39.319	+0.796s	70
21	Nicola Marinangeli	ITA	Arden	1m39.591	+1.068s	62
22	Oliver Goethe	DEN	MP Motorsport	1m39.604	+1.081s	63
23	Brad Benavides	USA	DR Formula	1m39.657	+1.134s	61
24	Mari Boya	ESP	FA Racing	1m39.753	+1.230s	75
25	Emidio Pesce	ITA	DR Formula	1m39.794	+1.271s	60
26	Tommy Smith	AUS	JD Motorsport	1m40.044	+1.521s	77
27	Eduardo Barrichello	BRZ	JD Motorsport	1m40.112	+1.589s	65
29	Jasin Ferati	SWI	Monolite Racing	1m40.163	+1.640s	74
28	Alexandre Bardinon	FRA	FA Racing	1m40.172	+1.649s	59
30	Axel Gnos	SWI	G4 Racing	1m40.216	+1.693s	78
31	Léna Bühler	SWI	R-ace GP	1m41.486	+2.963s	30
32	Nico Göhler	GER	KIC Motorsport	1m41.699	+3.176s	48