PRACTICE: Tsolov leads the way ahead of Tramnitz in Monte Carlo

Nikola Tsolov ended Day 1 of running in Monte Carlo on top, as the Campos Racing driver led the way in Free Practice with a 1:25.622.

The Bulgarian driver beat MP Motorsport’s Tim Tramnitz to the top time by 0.219s, as TRIDENT’S Charlie Wurz rounded out the top three.

The drivers were immediately out on track on the carry over Medium tyres from Imola, looking to get up to speed as quickly as possible, as Callum Voisin led the way early on.

The Rodin Motorsport driver’s 1:29.512 was the benchmark, but as the times improved, Tramnitz took over in P1 with a 1:28.875, leading his rookie MP teammate Alessandro Giusti by 0.114s.

The German continued to set the pace, completing a 1:27.733, before going even quicker to a 1:27.459, with Giusti in P2 once more, over half a second behind.

The MP pairing were setting the timesheets alight as Giusti crossed the line to go to P1, but only briefly as Tramnitz completed a 1:27.092 to eclipse his teammate by 0.082s.

Tramnitz did one more push lap and again lowered the time to beat. The Red Bull Junior driver’s 1:26.608 maintained his place at the top, with Giusti in P2 once more, over two-tenths behind.

After 25 minutes of running, the teams swapped the Mediums for the Soft tyres, looking to give the drivers a feel for the compound they will be using for the rest of the weekend.

But as the drivers set off on their laps, TRIDENT’s Noah Stromsted collided with the barrier at Turn 1, bringing out the Red Flags with less than 12 minutes to go in the session.

Green flag conditions returned with six minutes remaining, and it was Campos’ Mari Boya that took to the top on a 1:26.393.

However, as the chequered flag waved, the fastest time changed hands several times, before Tsolov ended the session on top with a 1:25.622.

Tramnitz wound up in second place, 0.219s off Tsolov, with Charlie Wurz the lead TRIDENT in P3 ahead of teammate Rafael Câmara, in front of Voisin in fifth.

PREMA Racing’s Noel León was sixth ahead of Martinius Stenshorne for Hitech TGR, while Boya ended up in P8. ART Grand Prix driver Laurens van Hoepen finished in P9 with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Théophile Nael rounding out the top 10.

That ends the day’s action, but drivers will return to the track tomorrow for Qualifying around the Principality with Group A set to head out on track at 11:05 local time, followed by Group B at 11:26.