As Formula Regional enters its seventh and penultimate round of 2020, Jamie Chadwick had a very positive Friday, showing significant progress in the two mixed-weather practice sessions compared to the previous rounds.
While most of the racing series worldwide have already rounded out their 2020 seasons, Formula Regional European Championship took to the track on Friday for the opening day of their seventh and penultimate round of the championship in Imola, Italy.
After a positive test day on Wednesday, Jamie Chadwick is looking forward to finish her first season in the Formula 3 Regional on a high and add more important milage on her resumé.
Coming to another unknown racetrack, the British lady found rainy conditions in Imola on Friday morning - substantially different from her previous testing days.
In the morning’s session, Chadwick was seventh fastest, with a best lap of 1:59.905.
The 2019 W Series champion was up in the top-5 for most of the initial part of the session and remained close to her teammate Gianluca Petecof, sixth at the end of FP1.
Arthur Leclerc topped the timesheets in the #14 Prema Powerteam Tatuus F3 car by over a second, followed by Barcelona’s polesitter Dennis Hauger (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Oliver Rasmussen (Prema).
Patrik Pasma (KIC Motorsport) brought out a red flag when he went off in the gravel.
In the early afternoon, championship contender and early pace-setter Leclerc was halted by gearbox issues and couldn’t get out of his garage. It was then Dennis Hauger to set the fastest laptime of the day on mixed conditions: the drivers went out on slicks, but the track remained very challenging and slippery in certain sections.
Series rookie Ian Rodriguez was an impressive second for DR Formula: the Guatemalan driver, after a season in the United States, made his return to Europe and joined the field of Formula Regional European Championship for his F3 debut. Oliver Rasmussen held third, edging KIC Motorsport’s teammates Lappalainen and Pasma.
Jamie Chadwick was ninth as the chequered flag fell, but had her best lap interrupted by a red flag. She was consistently improving throughout the session and frequently appeared in the top-6, in a much more confident showing at Imola.
“I think it went a bit better than the timesheets show.” - she told us after FP2.
“Both sessions were obviously in mixed conditions and I don’t think we quite got a lap in when we could have done. But it was actually quite positive.”
“It’s looking dry for the rest of the weekend, so probably not too representative today, but still it’s nice to be making big progress from the previous weekends and have a better showing.” - concluded Chadwick.
On Saturday, the Formula Regional drivers will hit the track for the two 15-minutes qualifying sessions and the first race of the weekend. The track will go green for Q1 at 09:55 CEST.
