ART Grand Prix Gabriele Minì wasted no time in acclimatising to the 4,909 Km Imola circuit and shone when conditions were at their best to round off an impressive testing performance with the day’s quickest time.
The first blow was struck by Maceo Capietto (Monolite Racing), who went quickest in the morning session.
Minì’s time of 1m50:096s would prove to be the quickest of the day, which allowed him to hold the lead for almost the entire session.
Santiago Ramos (KIC Motorsport) collected the second time behind the Italian driver. Minì’s teammate Mari Boya was just four tenths of a second further back in third, while FA Racing’s Victor Bernier was fourth and 0.173s away from the Spaniard.
The winner of the second race of the year Paul Aron (Prema Racing) was in the top five for much of the session, ahead the rookie Tim Tramnitz (Trident), sixth.
The third ART Grand Prix car of Laurens Van Hoepen was next up in seventh, 0.265s clear of Arden Motorsport’s Eduardo Barrichello, with championship leader Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing) and KIC Motorsport’s Francesco Braschi completing the top-10.
The first Formula Regional European Championship qualifying of the weekend is set for 11.35am tomorrow ahead of a 06.05pm start for the championship’s third race.