Emanuele Olivieri set the pace in the sole FREC Free Practice session at Imola, beating Reno Francot by just 0.047s with a late 1:39.074.
The R-ace GP rookie produced his quickest lap in the closing minutes on home soil, denying CL Motorsport’s Francot after the Dutchman briefly moved to the top. Van Amersfoort Racing newcomer Oleksandr Bondarev continued the strong start to his debut weekend by taking third, following his session-topping performance in Thursday’s Pre-Event Test.
Sebastian Wheldon finished fourth for MP Motorsport, while championship leader Kean Nakamura-Berta completed the top five for PREMA Racing. Rashid Al Dhaheri followed in sixth, putting all four of the leading championship contenders inside the top six before Friday afternoon’s Qualifying session.
Al Dhaheri and Olivieri establish early R-ace GP advantage
Al Dhaheri became the first driver to break the 1:40 barrier during the opening stages, initially moving ahead with a 1:39.978 before improving again to 1:39.907. Teammate Olivieri soon responded, taking over at the front with a 1:39.807 as the two R-ace GP cars established themselves at the head of the order.
Al Dhaheri briefly reclaimed first with a 1:39.795, but Olivieri answered almost immediately with a 1:39.731 to regain a 0.064s advantage. Their early battle continued a competitive start to the Imola weekend for R-ace GP, with both drivers arriving firmly involved in the championship fight behind Nakamura-Berta.
The uninterrupted running ended with roughly 33 minutes remaining when Gabriel Gomez went off the circuit. The Rodin Motorsport rookie’s excursion triggered the session’s only Red Flag and limited him to six laps, significantly fewer than the rest of the 30-car field.
Francot and Wheldon join battle after Red Flag
Running resumed five minutes after the stoppage, allowing the field to begin another sequence of improvements as track conditions continued to develop.
Bondarev initially moved into contention with a 1:39.680 before Francot made a larger step to 1:39.379. Wheldon then edged ahead of the CL Motorsport driver by only 0.002s with a 1:39.377, placing the MP Motorsport driver at the front briefly as the session entered its final phase.
Olivieri responded again, lowering his benchmark to 1:39.312 and reclaiming first by 0.065s over Wheldon. That left several drivers tightly grouped behind the Italian, with the final minutes still providing enough time for another reshuffle.
Nakamura-Berta also maintained his presence among the leaders and eventually set a 1:39.384, leaving him only 0.310s away from the eventual fastest time. Al Dhaheri’s 1:39.396 ultimately placed him sixth, just 0.012s behind the championship leader.
Olivieri responds to late Francot challenge
Francot delivered the strongest challenge to Olivieri with five minutes remaining, producing a 1:39.121 to jump from the chasing group into first place.
Olivieri immediately began his response and went 0.142s faster than Francot through the opening sector. His first attempt fell narrowly short, however, as a 1:39.142 left him only 0.021s behind the Dutchman.
The R-ace GP driver needed only one more lap to reverse the order. Olivieri crossed the line in 1:39.074, finding another 0.068s and moving 0.047s clear of Francot with a time that remained unbeaten through the chequered flag.
Bondarev then produced a late improvement of his own to take third with a 1:39.350, 0.276s away from Olivieri. The Williams F1 Team Academy driver again demonstrated immediate pace after topping his first official FREC session for Van Amersfoort Racing on Thursday.
Championship contenders remain closely matched
Wheldon ended Free Practice fourth with his 1:39.377, just 0.027s behind Bondarev and seven thousandths ahead of Nakamura-Berta. Al Dhaheri followed another 0.012s back in sixth, leaving three of the championship’s leading four drivers covered by just 0.019s.
ART Grand Prix rookie Alexandre Munoz took seventh with a 1:39.400, only four thousandths behind Al Dhaheri. Alex Ninovic placed eighth for Rodin Motorsport, while Trident Motorsport’s Maksimilian Popov and R-ace GP’s Yuki Sano completed the top 10.
The close order extended deep into the field, with the top 15 covered by less than six tenths and the leading 23 drivers separated by under one second. Only Kai Daryanani, Jan Przyrowski, Rahim Alibhai, Miguel Costa, Reza Seewooruthun, Giovanni Maschio and Gomez finished more than a second from Olivieri’s benchmark.
Attention now turns to Qualifying, with the field divided into Groups A and B for the session beginning at 15:15 local time.
2026 FREC Imola Free Practice results
- #73 Emanuele Olivieri (R) (R-ace GP): 1:39.074
- #69 Reno Francot (CL Motorsport): +0.047
- #11 Oleksandr Bondarev (R) (Van Amersfoort Racing): +0.276
- #98 Sebastian Wheldon (MP Motorsport): +0.303
- #51 Kean Nakamura-Berta (PREMA Racing): +0.310
- #71 Rashid Al Dhaheri (R-ace GP): +0.322
- #95 Alexandre Munoz (R) (ART Grand Prix): +0.326
- #2 Alex Ninovic (Rodin Motorsport): +0.358
- #33 Maksimilian Popov (Trident Motorsport): +0.428
- #12 Yuki Sano (R-ace GP): +0.515
- #67 Marcus Saeter (R) (G4 Racing): +0.528
- #55 Dion Gowda (Van Amersfoort Racing): +0.551
- #60 Tomass Stolcermanis (R) (PREMA Racing): +0.566
- #27 Mattéo Giaccardi (ART Grand Prix): +0.575
- #19 Kabir Anurag (ART Grand Prix): +0.587
- #28 Zhenrui Chi (MP Motorsport): +0.679
- #3 Saqer Almaosherji (G4 Racing): +0.684
- #22 René Lammers (CL Motorsport): +0.714
- #88 Salim Hanna (PREMA Racing): +0.734
- #47 Andrija Kostic (Trident Motorsport): +0.752
- #15 Alexander Abkhazava (MP Motorsport): +0.852
- #7 Andrea Dupé (Van Amersfoort Racing): +0.903
- #24 Jules Roussel (CL Motorsport): +0.964
- #87 Kai Daryanani (Trident Motorsport): +1.055
- #8 Jan Przyrowski (RPM): +1.087
- #23 Rahim Alibhai (R) (G4 Racing): +1.132
- #5 Miguel Costa (RPM): +1.261
- #4 Reza Seewooruthun (Rodin Motorsport): +1.288
- #99 Giovanni Maschio (RPM): +1.744
- #78 Gabriel Gomez (R) (Rodin Motorsport): +1.803
