Herta quickest in Spa Euro Formula Open practice

Colton Herta

Carlin’s Colton Herta ended EuroFormula Open free practice today at Spa Francorchamps in impressive style setting the fastest time of the day as he took to the circuit for his very first outing. Herta, who was relishing in his first visit to the world-renowned circuit dealt with changing conditions well to set his lap in the dying seconds of the session. Team mates Ameya Vaidyanathan and Keyvan Andres made progress at Spa as they guided their way around the Belgium circuit to finish with combined results placing them 19th and 20th respectively.

Two practice sessions today put the drivers through their paces as they looked to get up to speed around the long and demanding Spa Francorchamps. This morning was a case of getting used to the track for many as they prepared for the upcoming race weekend; Herta set the tenth quickest time, Vaidyanathan was 14th while Andres was just behind his team mate in 15th.

However this afternoon was a much more dramatic affair for the field to contend with; just minutes after the green light signaled the start of the second practice it began to rain throwing a new challenge in to the mix. In turn, this meant that most of the field returned to the pit lane as they debated their tyre choices before a red flag brought the session to a halt.

As it was, the rain was short in appearance and not too heavy meaning the three Carlin men were able to take to the track on their slick tires for their next runs – by this point in the session both Andres and Vaidyanathan had been running well in 12th and 13th respectively. With the practice times combined for the day Vaidyanathan was 19th overall and Andres 20th.

However Herta had yet to put in a truly competitive lap and left it right up until the dying seconds to do so. Experiencing the challenges of Spa for the very first time Herta saved his best lap until last and perfectly placed his Dallara F312 on top with a time of 2:14.919 – the quickest of the day.

Herta said, “This is my first time at Spa and it is a really amazing track – definitely as good as people say it is. We had two practice sessions today and during the first one it was just a case of getting to grips with the track and the car here. The second one was interesting because of the rain and it was debatable what tires to use however we went out on slicks and ended the day quickest. I think we’re in a really good place and can have a strong qualifying later today."

Qualifying gets underway at 16:40 local time.