James Wharton leads the way in the second Collective Test at the Red Bull Ring

A highly competitive and intense second test session unfolded today at the Red Bull Ring, the stage for the eighth round of the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. The drivers on track this afternoon found a circuit that progressively dried out after the heavy rain that fell yesterday and earlier this morning.
 

Leading the way this afternoon was James Wharton (Prema Racing), who posted the fastest time of 1’34″046, capping off a positive day where he consistently ranked among the quickest. Close behind the Australian, just over two-tenths of a second back, was Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot, who set the second-fastest time in the closing moments of the session. The Brazilian driver edged out his fellow countryman Rafael Camara, who had led the session for much of the time behind the wheel of his Prema Racing car. Just behind the series leader, Roman Bilinski (Trident) finished with the fourth-best time after switching to slick tires as the track had nearly dried out in the final minutes.

Ugo Ugochukwu (Prema Racing) also had a strong showing, consistently appearing near the top of the timesheets throughout the session before finishing fifth, ahead of Noah Strømsted (RPM), the current rookie standings leader. Alessandro Giusti (ART Grand Prix), with the seventh-fastest time, once again demonstrated his skill in both dry and wet conditions, finishing ahead of Brando Badoer (Van Amersfoort Racing), who was eighth, followed by Romain Andriolo (G4 Racing) and Théophile Naël (Sainteloc Racing) rounding out the top 10.

Tomorrow, the first qualifying session is scheduled for 9:05 AM and, as usual, it will be streamed live on the championship’s official YouTube channel.
 

James Wharton – Prema Racing

“The track conditions at the start of this weekend have been quite tricky. With the weather forecast as it was, we didn’t expect the track to dry out after all the rain we’ve had. We’re pleased with today’s result. I think we’ve done a great job thanks to the team. We aim to replicate this in tomorrow’s qualifying, but there’s still a long way to go. Nevertheless, it’s a good start to the weekend.”