- In the opening Free Practice session at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy Friday morning, Mercedes-AMG's Valtteri Bottas was fastest overall with a lap at 143.409 mph. This was four-hundredths of a second faster than teammate Lewis Hamilton. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was third fastest, then Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly.
There were two red flags during the session. The first came out with 20 minutes remaining after Alpine's Esteban Ocon collided with Red Bull's Sergio Perez exiting the Villeneuve chicane. Eight minutes were required to remove the stricken cars.
At the end of the session, Haas F1's Nikita Mazepin spun and hit the wall at the exit of Rivazza No. 2 to bring out the second red flag of the session, ruining some quick laps in the process. It was the second of at least three issues Friday for the rookie.
- In Free Practice No. 2 in Imola, Bottas was once again fastest with a lap at 145.332 mph. That lap was just a hundredth of a second faster than Hamilton. Gasly was third fastest, while the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Leclerc were fourth and fifth.
There were two interruptions during the session. Verstappen's Red Bull came to a halt just past pit out early on. It is unclear what caused the stoppage, but it appears to be a mechanical issue, like a driveshaft. That ended Verstappen's session, but the team will be able to fix the car prior to Saturday. He only completed five laps in the session prior to the failure and ended up 14th
fastest. The Virtual Safety Car was displayed in order to remove Verstappen's car from the track.
A red flag ended the session ended three minutes early after Leclerc slid off-course exiting Rivazza No. 2 and hit the wall. Leclerc was ok, but upset with himself.
- In European Le Mans Series action, United Autosports' Phil Hanson was fastest in the opening Free Practice session for this weekend's 4 Hours of Barcelona with a lap at 111.696 mph. This was one-seventh of a second faster than COOL Racing's Nicolas Lapierre. IDEC Sport's Paul-Loup Chatin was third fastest, then Team WRT's Louis Deletraz and Ryan Dalziel in IDEC Sport's No. 17 that is a joint
venture with Era Motorsports.
LMP3 was topped by Graff Racing's David Droux with a lap at 104.828 mph, good for overall. He was nine-hundredths of a second faster than Inter Europol Competition's Ugo de Wilde. United Autosports' Wayne Boyd was third fastest, then AIM Villorba Corse's Alessandro Bressan. DKR Engineering's Laurents Hoerr was fifth in the quickest of the Duqueine M30-D08s.
The GTE class was topped by Ross Gunn in the TF Sport Aston Martin. Gunn's lap at 101.347 mph was a quarter of a second faster than the Ferrari of Iron Lynx's Miguel Molina. The Porsche of Proton Competition's Jaxon Evans was third, then the second Iron Lynx Ferrari of Paolo Ruberti was fourth. Richard Lietz in the Proton No. 93 Porsche was fifth.
Galpin was very pleased with the results of his wintry endeavor.
"This test will definitely open up new horizons and spark new ideas for the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. We have to see what’s the next step but for sure this was a very special day."
No word on whether this means that the Whelen Euro Series could race on ice in the future during the winter months or not. The 2021 Whelen Euro Series season is scheduled to start May 15 at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Spain.
- Indy Lights teams held a practice session Thursday at Barber Motorsports Park. Linus Lundqvist was fastest with a lap at 113.834 mph. This was two-tenths of a second faster than David Malukas, then Toby Sowery, Benjamin Pedersen and Devlin DeFrancesco.
- In Indy Pro 2000 practice, Enaam Ahmed was fastest with a lap at 105.968 mph. This was two-tenths of a second faster than Jack William Miller, then Flinn Lazier. Only three of the 17 drivers entered set times.
- Cooper Tires USF2000 practice saw Jay Howard Driver Development's Peter Vodanovich go fastest with a lap at 100.173 mph Thursday. This was one-eighth of a second faster than Cape Motorsports' Michael d'Orlando. Legacy Autosport's Simon Sikes was third, then Bijoy Garg and Spike Kohlbecker. Only 11 of 26 drivers entered set
times.
Qualifying for the first USF2000 race of 2021 saw Pabst Racing's Yuven Sundaramoorthy set a new class record at Barber Park to win the pole with a lap at 102.071 mph. He was less than two-hundredths of a second faster than DEForce Racing's Prescott Campbell. Sundaramoorthy's teammate Josh Pierson will start third, followed by d'Orlando and Jace
Denmark. The first Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship race of the weekend is scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday. That should be streamed live at RoadToIndy.tv.
