The first day of Formula Regional Europe's (FREC) second post-season test at Circuit Paul Ricard delivered intense competition. Alp Aksoy of Prema Racing and Oleksandr Bondarev of R-ace GP each topped a session, setting the stage for a fierce battle in the upcoming season.
In the morning session, Aksoy became the first driver to dip below the 1m58s barrier. However, his dominance was briefly challenged by MP Motorsport's Dries Van Langendonck, who clocked a 1m58.834s, and CL Motorsport's Reno Francot, who took a turn at the top. In the closing minutes, Aksoy surged back to claim the fastest time with a 1m58.454s. Meanwhile, Miguel Costa (CL Motorsport) impressed with second place, followed by his teammate Francot, and Van Amersfoort Racing's Scott Lindblom, who again showed strong pace.
The afternoon session belonged to Bondarev. The Ukrainian driver set the day's fastest time, a 1m58.296s, beating Van Langendonck by just 0.058s. Interestingly, Van Langendonck actually set the fastest sector times in the middle and final sectors but lost over two-tenths in the first sector. Bondarev's teammate, Kenzo Craigie, continued his impressive form from Hockenheim by going third quickest in the afternoon.
New faces and absentees marked this test. FIA Formula 3 driver Fionn McLaughlin joined Keith Doneghan's RPM team, while Anglo-Spaniard Edu Robinson filled the Prema seat previously shared by Tomass Stolcermanis and Saqer Almaosherji in Germany. Alexandre Munoz returned to the ART Grand Prix cockpit after making way for Taito Kato in the afternoon at Hockenheim, though he and Matteo Giaccardi appeared to have swapped numbers compared to their usual 2026 mounts.
MP Motorsport fielded only Van Langendonck as Kasper Schormans and Rocco Coronel were absent due to a conflicting Spanish Formula 4 test. Meanwhile, Van Amersfoort Racing's Fernando Rivera was the only driver not to break the two-minute barrier, despite completing the most laps (85).
These first-day results offer an early glimpse of team and driver strengths ahead of the 2026 season. The battle between Prema, R-ace GP, and MP Motorsport is expected to intensify, especially with the arrival of talented young drivers ready to prove themselves.
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