Alex Quinn, Gabriele Mini Share Opening Day Practice Honours at Imola

Alex Quinn topped the time sheets in the opening free practice session of the 2021 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine season at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari on Friday, while Gabriele Mini did likewise in session two.

Quinn, racing this year with Arden Motorsport, hit the top with a 1:38.740 late in the session, and it was almost a one-two for the British team as team-mate William Alatalo slotted into second, only for Prema Powerteam’s Paul Aron to displace the Finn.  Just 0.042 seconds separated Aron from Quinn’s best lap.

After appearing to be nowhere in testing, Prema Powerteam showed its hand as Spaniard David Vidales ended the day fourth in a second entry for the Italian outfit, while their third, Dino Beganovic – a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy – was eighth.

Mari Boya, who made the last-minute decision to race for Van Amersfoort Racing in 2021 rather than FA Racing, ended the opening session inside the top five, just ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Grégoire Saucy, while MP Motorsport’s Kas Haverkort placed seventh ahead of Beganovic.

R-ace GP’s Hadrien David ended the session in ninth, with KIC Motorsport’s Patrik Pasma rounding out the top ten ahead of ART Grand Prix’ Mini and JD Motorsport’s Eduardo Barrichello.

Gabriel Bortoleto, who’s place on the grid with FA Racing was only confirmed on Thursday, had a troubled session with his new team as he completed only six laps and ended up more than ten seconds off the pace.

In the second session, taking place after the first practice session for Formula 1, Mini hit the top with a lap of 1:38.021, with the Italian edging out team-mate Saucy by 0.071, while first session pacesetter Quinn was only a further 0.006 seconds back in third.

Boya’s impressive day continued as he moved into fourth ahead of Vidales, Alatalo and Aron, while R-ace GP’s Zane Maloney ended eighth ahead of Beganovic.  Bortoleto had a much better second session compared to the first and was able to break into the top ten, 0.903 seconds off the best time of Mini.  FA Racing’s Andrea Rosso ended just outside the top ten in eleventh, with Pasma twelfth.

The second session was interrupted by a red flag as Arden’s Nicola Marinangeli stopped on track with less than five minutes left of the clock.

Neither Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) and Thomas Ten Brinke (ART Grand Prix) took to the track in either session.  Colapinto is racing in the European Le Mans Series this weekend and looks to be prioritising that over FRECA, while it was unclear to while Dutchman Ten Brinke did not appear for ART.

Free Practice 1 Times

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/GAP	LAPS
1	21	Alex Quinn	GBR	Arden Motorsport	1:38.740	20
2	1	Paul Aron	EST	Prema Powerteam	+0.042	22
3	8	William Alatalo	FIN	Arden Motorsport	+0.205	19
4	12	David Vidales	ESP	Prema Powerteam	+0.309	22
5	64	Mari Boya	ESP	Van Amersfoort Racing	+0.346	21
6	26	Grégoire Saucy	CHE	ART Grand Prix	+0.376	19
7	27	Kas Haverkort	NED	MP Motorsport	+0.388	21
8	17	Dino Beganovic	SWE	Prema Powerteam	+0.482	22
9	10	Hadrien David	FRA	R-ace GP	+0.545	20
10	5	Patrik Pasma	FIN	KIC Motorsport	+0.554	20
11	46	Gabriele Mini	ITA	ART Grand Prix	+0.562	19
12	91	Eduardo Barrichello	BRZ	JD Motorsport	+0.619	20
13	19	Andrea Rosso	ITA	FA Racing	+0.661	22
14	22	Zane Maloney	BAR	R-ace GP	+0.717	20
15	96	Oliver Gøthe	DEN	MP Motorsport	+0.741	22
16	14	Nicola Marinangeli	ITA	Arden Motorsport	+0.809	19
17	58	Elias Seppänen	FIN	KIC Motorsport	+0.830	22
18	51	Francesco Pizzi	ITA	Van Amersfoort Racing	+0.915	21
19	35	Pietro Delli Guanti	ITA	Monolite Racing	+0.946	20
20	6	Isack Hadjar	FRA	R-ace GP	+0.973	20
21	62	Lorenzo Fluxá	ESP	Van Amersfoort Racing	+1.019	22
22	71	Brad Benavides	USA	DR Formula	+1.112	21
23	16	Tommy Smith	AUS	JD Motorsport	+1.293	20
24	41	Emidio Pesce	ITA	DR Formula	+1.642	21
25	9	Alexandre Bardinon	FRA	FA Racing	+1.723	22
26	7	Axel Gnos	CHE	G4 Racing	+1.847	22
27	13	Jasin Ferati	CHE	Monolite Racing	+1.893	20
28	2	Nico Göhler	GER	KIC Motorsport	+2.356	22
29	72	Bélen Garcia	ESP	G4 Racing	+3.135	19
30	85	Gabriel Bortoleto	BRZ	DR Formula	+10.718	6
31	11	Franco Colapinto	ARG	MP Motorsport	No Time	0
32	23	Thomas ten Brinke	NED	ART Grand Prix	No Time	0

Free Practice 2 Times

POS.	NO.	DRIVER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/GAP	LAPS
1	46	Gabriele Mini	ITA	ART Grand Prix	1:38.021	19
2	26	Grégoire Saucy	CHE	ART Grand Prix	+0.071	17
3	21	Alex Quinn	GBR	Arden Motorsport	+0.077	20
4	64	Mari Boya	ESP	Van Amersfoort Racing	+0.213	21
5	12	David Vidales	ESP	Prema Powerteam	+0.527	20
6	8	William Alatalo	FIN	Arden Motorsport	+0.687	16
7	1	Paul Aron	EST	Prema Powerteam	+0.729	20
8	22	Zane Maloney	BAR	R-ace GP	+0.812	23
9	17	Dino Beganovic	SWE	Prema Powerteam	+0.821	19
10	85	Gabriel Bortoleto	BRZ	DR Formula	+0.903	20
11	19	Andrea Rosso	ITA	FA Racing	+0.913	19
12	5	Patrik Pasma	FIN	KIC Motorsport	+0.948	19
13	6	Isack Hadjar	FRA	R-ace GP	+0.973	23
14	91	Eduardo Barrichello	BRZ	JD Motorsport	+1.090	20
15	27	Kas Haverkort	NED	MP Motorsport	+1.131	21
16	35	Pietro Delli Guanti	ITA	Monolite Racing	+1.139	18
17	10	Hadrien David	FRA	R-ace GP	+1.142	23
18	62	Lorenzo Fluxá	ESP	Van Amersfoort Racing	+1.151	18
19	51	Francesco Pizzi	ITA	Van Amersfoort Racing	+1.153	18
20	41	Emidio Pesce	ITA	DR Formula	+1.394	18
21	71	Brad Benavides	USA	DR Formula	+1.424	18
22	14	Nicola Marinangeli	ITA	Arden Motorsport	+1.444	18
23	96	Oliver Gøthe	DEN	MP Motorsport	+1.673	20
24	16	Tommy Smith	AUS	JD Motorsport	+1.691	20
25	58	Elias Seppänen	FIN	KIC Motorsport	+1.864	21
26	7	Axel Gnos	CHE	G4 Racing	+2.041	22
27	2	Nico Göhler	GER	KIC Motorsport	+2.171	20
28	13	Jasin Ferati	CHE	Monolite Racing	+2.229	19
29	72	Bélen Garcia	ESP	G4 Racing	+2.347	22
30	9	Alexandre Bardinon	FRA	FA Racing	+2.717	19
31	11	Franco Colapinto	ARG	MP Motorsport	No Time	0
32	23	Thomas ten Brinke	NED	ART Grand Prix	No Time	0