Oleksandr Bondarev made an impressive debut by setting the fastest time in the first of two Pre-Event Test sessions that opened the FIA Formula Regional European Championship weekend at Imola.
The young Ukrainian rookie, making his first appearance in one of three cars entered by Van Amersfoort Racing, posted the time of 1:39.924, edging out Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov by just 0.038 seconds.
CL Motorsport’s Dutch driver Reno Francot set the third-fastest time, followed by G4 Racing’s Marcus Saeter and championship leader Kean Nakamura-Berta of PREMA Racing.
Indian driver Dion Gowda placed sixth in another Van Amersfoort Racing entry, ahead of R-ace GP’s Rashid Al Dhaheri. The latter arrived at the Santerno circuit second in the standings, 13 points behind Nakamura-Berta and level on points with MP Motorsport’s Sebastian Wheldon, who could manage only 19th on this occasion.
The second two-hour test session is scheduled to get under way at 14:00.
