On the first day on track at Vallelunga, the fastest lap time goes to Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Today, Thursday 30 June, two long collective test sessions, each lasting 4 hours. In the morning session, the Junior Mercedes of Prema Racing set the unbeaten time of 1'34.725. Also very good was the time set by Alexander Dunne, the Irishman of US Racing, who followed at +0.055 (second best time overall). The current Championship leader, Rafael Camara, was then third at +0.125. The Brazilian of Prema Racing then further improved his time in the following session, and marked the best lap of the afternoon with 1'34.837. 4th best time in the combined classification went to Marcus Amand, followed by two teammates from US Racing, Nikhil Bohra and Kacper Sztuka. Amand and Sztuka emerged most strongly in the second session, being the only drivers to keep the gap from Camara in the hundredths of a second range (+0.018 and +0.043 respectively).
There was also an excellent time for Taylor Barnard (+0.160) who - like his PHM Racing teammates Nikita Bedrin, Jonas Ried, and Victoria Blokhina - only took part in the 14:00 to 18:00 session, setting the 7th lap of the day. Completing the top 10 in the combined collective test classification is Prema Racing's Charlie Wurz, followed by two Ferrari Driver Academy drivers: James Wharton (Prema Racing) and Maya Weug (Iron Dames).
After the day of testing, tomorrow, Friday 1 July, will proceed with free practice, in two sessions, from 11.45 to 12.25; then back on track from 16.45 to 17.25. Qualifying will take place on Saturday morning, in two 15-minute sessions, separated by a ten-minute stop, starting at 10.30. Then Race 1 in the afternoon of Saturday 2 July, starting at 15.10 (30'+1 lap). Sunday 3 July will see the start of Race 2 at 9.00 (30' + 1 lap), while the last race of the weekend will get underway at 14.00 (30' + 1 lap).
Just a foretaste of a weekend yet to be written, certainly capable in its premise of offering an amazing show. There will be 37 drivers battling in the circuit near Rome, with a classification situation that sees very tight margins separating the leading drivers; just as tight are the margins separating the cars in today's chronometric readings.
Access to the circuit, for the ACI motorsport weekend, is free for the public in the grandstands and paddock, by reserving a ticket at the following link https://www.eventbrite.it/e/biglietti-aci-racing-weekend-346998861937
