G4 Racing experienced a positive 2021 start in the team first Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine outing of the year at Imola. Axel Gnos set the 17th fastest time in Qualifying 1, showing good speed that almost brought him in the top-10. Belén Garcia faced some troubles in Q1, but bounced back in the second session, improving her marks by more than one second.
The Spanish racer found more confidence in Race 1, recovering from the 15th row on the grid to the 23rd position at the end. Gnos performed in brilliant fashion in the first race of the season, moving back from P26 on the grid to 17th place. He made the most of some incidents happening in front of him and put together a few brilliant overtakes.
After today’s performance, G4 Racing can look forward to Race 2 with confidence. Gnos will start from P17, while García will line up on the 15th row of the grid again.
Adrian Muñoz (Sporting and Technical Manager): “Overall, I am really satisfied with our first weekend in the new Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine. Over the last few months, our staff worked tirelessly to make sure we could line up for this event in perfect conditions even with the tough general situation. Both cars worked perfectly and we didn’t have any technical issue. Regarding the drivers, I am really happy with their evolution considering that both are rookies and are learning a lot every lap they do. They both did their best in Qualifying with 30 cars on track, managing the traffic well. The race 1 result confirm that they are evolving and gaining experience”.
Axel Gnos (Driver): “Qualifying 1 was a very good one. I was just half a tenth away from the top-15, which is my target for the beginning of this season. Obviously, both I and the team are still lacking experience. P17 is quite good and I even had to slow down in sector 2 because of a yellow flag. I am quite proud as I put almost everything together. In the second qualifying I didn’t drive as well and I had to reset before Race 1. I really wanted to bounce back and I think I did a proper job, picking up positions following a few incidents and some neat overtakes. P17 is good considering where we started”.
Belén García (Driver): “It was a tricky day. I was very confident about my pace after the free practices, but today I didn’t really have the speed in qualifying. I made a couple of mistakes that compromised the lap times so the results were not good, but at the end of Race 1 I was quite fast and I eventually secured a good finish. I’m still not where I want to be, there’s big room for improvement, but I keep learning and I’m happy with my speed compared to the first test in Barcelona. I’m sure I can be stronger in the second race”.