Sebastian Wheldon set the pace in Friday morning’s Free Practice session at Monza, narrowly beating Alex Ninovic as the fourth round of the 2026 FIA Formula Regional European Championship (FREC) continued.
The MP Motorsport driver recorded a best lap of 1:45.469, improving by more than a tenth of a second on the benchmark established by Reza Seewooruthun during Thursday’s Collective Tests.
Wheldon snatches the top spot from Ninovic
Ninovic had led the session for Rodin Motorsport after posting a 1:45.479. However, Wheldon moved ahead during the closing minutes, beating the Australian by just 0.010s.
A red flag was subsequently shown at 09:14 local time, bringing the 45-minute session to a premature conclusion and preventing the drivers from making any further improvements.
Maksimilian Popov continued his strong form following his maiden victory at Spa-Francorchamps. The Trident Motorsport driver finished third with a time of 1:45.612, placing him 0.143s behind Wheldon.
Giaccardi and Francot complete the top five
Mattéo Giaccardi secured fourth place for ART Grand Prix after setting a 1:45.665. Meanwhile, Reno Francot followed closely behind for CL Motorsport, finishing only 0.013s slower than Giaccardi as he completed the top five.
MP Motorsport placed all three of its drivers inside the top seven. Zhenrui Chi, who topped Thursday afternoon’s Collective Test, finished sixth and just 0.002s behind Francot.
Alexander Abkhazava was seventh in the third MP Motorsport entry, ending the session 0.252s away from his teammate’s benchmark.
Munoz leads the Rookie runners
Alexandre Munoz claimed eighth place for ART Grand Prix and ended the session as the fastest Rookie. Meanwhile, Jan Przyrowski finished ninth for RPM, while Salim Hanna completed the top 10 for PREMA Racing.
The leading 10 drivers were separated by less than three-tenths of a second, while 28 of the 30 competitors finished within 1.1s of Wheldon’s fastest time.
Several drivers also had lap times deleted for exceeding track limits, including Abkhazava, Marcus Sæter, Hanna, Miguel Costa and Ninovic.
Qualifying comes next at Monza
Track action resumes at 16:25 local time with Qualifying 1. The 30 drivers will be divided into Groups A and B as they compete to determine the starting grid for the opening race of the Monza weekend.
2026 FRECA Monza Free Practice results
- Sebastian Wheldon — MP Motorsport — 1:45.469
- Alex Ninovic — Rodin Motorsport — +0.010s
- Maksimilian Popov — Trident Motorsport — +0.143s
- Mattéo Giaccardi — ART Grand Prix — +0.196s
- Reno Francot — CL Motorsport — +0.209s
- Zhenrui Chi — MP Motorsport — +0.211s
- Alexander Abkhazava — MP Motorsport — +0.252s
- Alexandre Munoz — ART Grand Prix — +0.280s
- Jan Przyrowski — RPM — +0.289s
- Salim Hanna — PREMA Racing — +0.296s
- Kabir Anurag — ART Grand Prix — +0.371s
- Francisco Macedo — Van Amersfoort Racing — +0.399s
- Kai Daryanani — Trident Motorsport — +0.429s
- Emanuele Olivieri — R-ace GP — +0.438s
- Kean Nakamura-Berta — PREMA Racing — +0.467s
- Gabriel Gomez — Rodin Motorsport — +0.475s
- Rashid Al Dhaheri — R-ace GP — +0.475s
- Reza Seewooruthun — Rodin Motorsport — +0.492s
- Dion Gowda — Van Amersfoort Racing — +0.515s
- Andrea Dupé — Van Amersfoort Racing — +0.535s
- Jules Roussel — CL Motorsport — +0.590s
- Yuki Sano — R-ace GP — +0.748s
- Marcus Sæter — G4 Racing — +0.821s
- Andrija Kostić — Trident Motorsport — +0.834s
- Rahim Alibhai — G4 Racing — +0.873s
- Tomass Štolcermanis — PREMA Racing — +0.886s
- Saqer Al Maosherji — G4 Racing — +0.937s
- Miguel Costa — RPM — +1.056s
- Giovanni Maschio — RPM — +1.458s
- Kyuho Lee — CL Motorsport — +2.028s
