PRACTICE: Câmara sets the pace ahead of Giusti at Imola opener

Rafael Câmara made a positive start to his Imola weekend by topping the timesheets in Free Practice. The TRIDENT driver’s 1:33.091 proved the time to beat ahead of the MP Motorsport duo of Alessandro Giusti and Tim Tramnitz.

Nicola Lacorte set the pace at his home race with a 1:35.682 early on for DAMS Lucas Oil, before the Van Amersfoort Racing driver, Ivan Domingues, pushed him down to P2 with a 1:35.564.

Domingues improved to a 1:34.891 but was followed across the line by PREMA Racing’s Noel León, who went fastest on a 1:34.740.

Track conditions continued to improve, and the laps got faster still, and this time it was Brando Badoer on top for PREMA with a 1:34.162, a tenth quicker than his teammate León.

But then came the Championship leader, Câmara, and he went fastest on a 1:33.433, the TRIDENT driver over seven-tenths faster than Badoer.

However, Câmara was soon joined in the top two by Giusti. The MP rookie went up to second, 0.245s behind, with Martinius Stenshorne third, over half a second behind the pacesetter.

Câmara continued to improve and lowered the time to beat to 1:33.353. Tramnitz was right behind the Brazilian at the line and wound up 0.254s off P1.

After a quick trip to the pit lane, the drivers were back out on track and Câmara again improved to a 1:33.091. However, Giusti was even closer on this occasion in P2, 0.074s behind his TRIDENT rival.

The Red Flags were out with less than three minutes to go, after Ugo Ugochukwu spun into the gravel at the exit of the Villeneuve chicane, before making slight contact with the barrier.

With not much time left, the session was not resumed with Câmara fastest ahead of the MP pairing of Giusti and Tramnitz. Rodin Motorsport’s Callum Voisin and Roman Bilinski were fourth and sixth respectively, with Campos Racing’s Mari Boya sandwiched between them in fifth.

León wound up seventh for PREMA, in front of AIX Racing’s James Hedley. Bruno del Pino made it three MP cars in the top 10 finishing ninth, Charlie Wurz rounded out 10th place for TRIDENT.

That wraps up the Imola Free Practice, but the drivers will be back out at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari for Qualifying at 15:05 local time.