Rookies Palou And Boccolacci Shine In Jerez

Alex Palou

The third and last day of Collective Test presented some new and old faces in the Circuit of Jerez. Roy Nissany (Lotus) and Egor Orudzhev (Arden Motorsport) returned to their garages. The Swiss Kevin Joerg joined the Lotus team for this final day. Beitske Visser was again on duty in AVF while Dorian Boccolacci has moved to Teo Martin Motorsport. The Spanish team has welcomed the young Alex Palou, who will have his 1st ever contact with the Formula V8 3.5. The Argentinean Facu Regalia moved to the garage next door, with RP Motorsport. Meanwhile Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi was back in the Fortec Motorsports garage alongside Alfonso Celis Jr.

Boccolacci sets the morning pace!

Egor Orudzhev, the SMP Racing driver testing with his team Arden Motorsport, was the first of the drivers to complete a timed lap. Dorian Boccolacci (Teo Martin Motorsport) set the pace in his first stint, with the Spaniard Alex Palou already in third position.

After the first runs were completed and ideal track conditions, Dorian Boccolacci set the pace in 1.27.734 with Alex Palou in second position 0.858 tenths behind. Again Egor Orudzhev, Pietro Fittipaldi (Fortec Motorsports) and Roy Nissany came closer to the French driver in Teo Martin Motorsport.

Alfonso Celis Jr. stepped in the track later after his team repaired a broken fuel tank in the car and joined Boccolacci in P2. The Frenchman profited a new set to put the best lap of the test in 1.26.761. Drivers went back to the track ready for the pole assault and Pietro Fittipaldi and Beitske Visser joined the conversation. Spanish Alex Palou moved up to the second position putting the Spanish Teo Martin Motorsport in top spot on home soil.

Egor Orudzhev and Kevin Joerg went on the assault with fresh tires the SMP Racing driver moving to P3 in his best lap. The Russian SMP Racing driver rejoined the pits and stepped in again with a new set while the Israeli Roy Nissany aligned all sectors to set the pace with the best registered time: 1.26.731.

In his last stint with new tires, Dorian Boccolacci set the pace in Jerez with 1.26.719, only

0.012 sc faster than Roy Nissany's best timed lap, with Alex Palou securing the third best lap.

Palou achieves the best overall lap!

At 14:00h, Pietro Fittipaldi was the first driver to step in the racetrack with his Fortec Motorsports. Most of the teams followed the Brazilian with their drivers to achieve precious race set-up data with quite a warm track temperature.

Alex Palou (Teo Martin Motorsport) set the early pace in used tires and later on he was replaced by his team-mate in the Spanish squad, Dorian Boccolaci.

40 minutes before the end of the Session, Matevos Isaakyan (Arden Motorsport) rejoined the track with a new set of new tires and improved his best register. He was soon in company of the rest of the field being Roy Nissany (Lotus) the first driver to lap below 1.28, and improving his best lap to 1.27.887. But with his car being found underweight, he drops to P7.

In the last 10 minutes, Alfonso Celis Jr improved to P1 but he was finally beat by the Rookie of the Day, Alex Palou, the sole driver to improve his best timed lap in the afternoon in 1.26.668, which remains the best register in all three days!

Best Driver and Best Debutant – Alex Palou (Teo Martin Motorsport) – 1.26 668

“This first experience behind a World Series car it's just amazing! I wasn't expecting so much grip and power in the braking. It's a big step compared to a GP3 car but it did not cost me much to get adapted! I maybe missed one little tenth in the morning but I managed to put everything together in the afternoon…I'm so happy with this experience and now it's time to keep on learning!"

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