PRACTICE: Minì sets the pace ahead of Maini in Monte Carlo

MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Minì was fastest in Thursday’s Free Practice session in Monte Carlo, with his 1:21.809 good enough to beat ART Grand Prix driver Kush Maini by just 0.020s.

After a few installation laps, the drivers were set for their first push attempts, but an early Red Flag was waved with Oliver Goethe having stopped at the swimming pool section.

With the MP car cleared, running resumed with Laurens van Hoepen going fastest on a 1:23.967, beating Rafael Câmara by just 0.040s.

Alexander Dunne then went top with a 1:23.478, Minì his closest rival 0.073s behind in P2. The Championship leader went for another push attempt and completed a 1:23.180 to take over in P1, with Dunne now trailing his rival by 0.039s.

The Rodin Motorsport driver was back at the top of the timesheets on his next lap with a 1:22.764, putting a gap of nearly four-tenths between himself and the rest of the field.

However, the Red Flags were then waved with Rafael Villagómez having found the barrier between Turns 3 and 4.

Practice was back underway with less than 14 minutes to go but the Virtual Safety Car was deployed momentarily with Sebastián Montoya’s front wing end plate needing to be cleared after slight contact with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

When running resumed with eight minutes to go, and with drivers having swapped their softs for supersofts, Minì returned to the top on a 1:22.531.

The Italian improved on his next effort but wound up in P2 with Maini now fastest on a 1:21.829.

But with his final lap of the session Minì completed a 1:21.809 to beat Maini by 0.020s. It was an all-Alpine Academy top three with Dunne in third ahead of Dino Beganovic and van Hoepen.

Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov and Noel León followed in sixth and seventh, with Roman Bilinski in eighth, Martinius Stenshorne ninth as Câmara rounded out the top 10.

That wraps up Free Practice with the drivers set to for Qualifying tomorrow afternoon in Monte Carlo with Group A scheduled to hit the track at 15:10 local time.