PRACTICE: Dunne quickest for Rodin Motorsport in opening Imola session

Alexander Dunne started the Imola weekend on the front foot, topping Free Practice for Rodin Motorsport on a 1:27.907.

Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad followed the Irish driver, just 0.009s down in P2 while DAMS Lucas Oil’s Kush Maini completed the top three.

Gabriele Minì led the pack after the opening 10 minutes of running and initial laps. A 1:30.416 put the PREMA Racing driver top of the pile just 0.007s ahead of Victor Martins in P2.

Lindblad was the next to deliver a substantial improvement as the Red Bull Junior Team member lowered the time to beat down to a 1:29.031.

Times continued to tumble as the track improved, and the drivers continued to push on. Minì re-took top spot on his next attempt with a 1:28.526 while Dunne put Rodin second in the order, 0.029s down on the pacesetter.

Martins then put ART Grand Prix on top, going 0.027s quicker than Minì’s earlier lap to leave the top four separated by just 0.060s, as Luke Browning went fourth for Hitech TGR. That was until the Briton found more time, going quickest to lead the pack on a 1:28.461 with 20 minutes left.

DAMS’ Maini had been P2 by 0.027s, but he found a sizeable improvement on his next attempt to go quickest, 1:28.022 the new benchmark effort.

Lindblad was the first into the 1:27s to re-take P1 for Campos entering the final third of Practice, while teammate Josep María Martí filtered into third behind Maini, 0.2s down on P1.

Rodin were back on top entering the final five minutes as Dunne pipped Lindblad by just 0.009s for top spot as the session wound down to a close. Martí finished up fourth behind Maini but ahead of Martins, Browning, Sami Meguetounif, Minì, and Roman Stanek, as Jak Crawford rounded out the top 10.

Qualifying is set to get underway on Friday afternoon at 16:00 local time.