Floersch qualifies P7 and P10 for Mugello first and second races

The German star of the Formula Regional European Championship was disappointed by her results in Friday's closing sessions after proving strong pace in practice.

The penultimate round of the inaugural Formula Regional European Championship went underway today at Mugello Circuit, Italy.

The brand-new series further expanded its grid by welcoming more high-profile drivers from FIA Formula 3, such as Jake Hughes (KIC Motorsport) and Lirim Zendeli (US Racing).

Sophia Floersch entered Friday's official practice sessions with high hopes after a strong performance in Thursday testing, which saw the Van Amersfoort driver ending in fourth position. In the opening stages of FP1, Floersch sat in the top-4 again, but as times started to drop, Igor Fraga, Frederik Vesti and David Schumacher took the top of the leaderboard. Brit Jake Hughes finished P5 despite technical troubles affecting his debut session in the F3 Regional championship.

The second session confirmed the names at the top of the timesheets, with series dominator Vesti ahead of Schumacher and newcomer Zendeli.

Sophia Floersch improved to eighth, with a best lap of 1:42.987, closely behind teammate Dan Ticktum.

Sharon Scolari had a positive start to her Mugello weekend, as her first visit to the Tuscany racetrack without prior testing was defined by constant improvement of her lap-times. The Swiss driver further reduced her gap from the top by a significant margin.

Despite a sunny and warm October day at Mugello, temperatures started to drop when Formula Regional approached its qualifying sessions.

In the first 15 minutes, Vesti won the battle for race 1 pole from David Schumacher by a mere 0.062 seconds. The two pace-setters were followed by Fittipaldi and Fraga. Hughes and Zendeli preceded Floersch, who was 7th fastest and could not beat her practice best time.

Sharon Scolari unfortunately flatspotted her first set of new tyres and lost momentum, finishing the first session six tenth away from her benchmark.

David Schumacher then overturned the result in the second qualifying session, as the two US Racing drivers were able to skillfully take advantage from each other's slipstream on the long Mugello straight: after an exciting lap by lap battle for the best lap, Vesti had to settle for second by a mere 0.065 margin.

Lirim Zendeli will take the start from the second row, alongside Enzo Fittipaldi.

Sophia Floersch spent most of the session in 7th place, but dropped to 10th in the closing stages despite improving to a 1:42.694. Visibly disappointed, The German driver will investigate together with her team Van Amersfoort the causes for today's performances. Dan Ticktum, likewise, ended eleventh and eighth.

Scolari regained some good rhythm in the fast-flowing Mugello corners and, although she did not sign her target lap time of 1:46, was particularly consistent on the 1:47.0.

The first Formula Regional European Championship race from Mugello will go green at 11:50 (local).