Benavides hails ‘positive’ Day 1 in Imola as AIX continue ‘productive’ post-season testing

21 October 2025

Brad Benavides says post-season testing so far for him has been productive after his strong run to the top of the timesheets on Day 1 in Imola.

The AIX Racing driver was in fine form in the afternoon session, completing a 1:33.022, which at one stage had him nearly eight-tenths clear of the rest of the field.

Benavides’ advantage was later reduced to just 0.088s by Rodin Motorsport’s Pedro Clerot, but reflecting on a day that started under rainy conditions and ended in the day, the American was happy with how things went.

“It was a good day all around,” said Benavides. “In the morning we had some wet running, and in the evening the track was getting drier, so the whole grid came out on their slicks.

“It's a bit unfortunate that in the morning we could not run a little bit more in the wet, especially I could not because people didn't want to drive. But all around it was a positive day. I ended it quickest, so we will see what tomorrow brings.”

Benavides was disappointed not to have gotten more wet running in the morning

When asked to explain why he was disappointed not to have done more running in the rainy conditions, Benavides explained that with three Wet tyres and the chance of rain on Day 2, the teams did not want to risk using all their tyres today.

“That's where it's bittersweet,” he answered. “It's not like you have a crystal ball to know how much it is going to rain, and then how much you can run on the Wet tyres.

“So people tend to be a bit conservative, and you never know what tomorrow brings. If it's raining more and we end up using all our wet tyres then we cannot complete the kilometres needed for those conditions.

“So hopefully it rains a bit more, so we can end up using all the Wet tyres. I want to drive a little bit more in the wet, because that's what was lacking a little bit this year, we didn't really get much wet running.”

Looking at the post-season test in its entirety, Benavides revealed that improving his long run pace had been a huge focus for him coming into the winter program.

The AIX Racing driver is looking forward to driving his car one more time in 2025 on the final day

When asked if he had felt improvements in that area but also within the team as a whole, the American replied: “We have been testing a bunch of things.

“At the end of the day, that's what testing is for, to test a bunch of test items and like I have mentioned, I have been more focused on the race runs to try to improve the pace there. So I feel like to summarise up till now, it has been productive.”

Previewing the final day of the 2025 campaign, Benavides is still wishing for more rain, but with no more track time until next year, he is looking to enjoy one more day in his Formula 3 car.

“I definitely want more wet running, and then for the track to get drier,” he added. “I really want the best of both worlds, but you can never really have that. But I am definitely going to enjoy the last day of driving this car this year.”