Three days of F1 ACADEMY testing came to an end at the Circuito de Navarra on Friday (11 September), as a grid of 18 up-and-coming female drivers took part in the Rookie Test.
After two days of running for the championship’s main-season drivers, the rookies took over on the final day in an opportunity to showcase their abilities and stake their respected claims for a seat on the 2027 grid.
Victoria Farfus set the fastest time, with the Ginetta Junior driver setting a 1m46.988s lap in the morning session. The 15-year-old’s best effort was within half a second of the benchmark set by Alba Larsen in Thursday’s test. The afternoon session was topped by Alexia Danielsson with a time of 1m47.259s.
Drivers were given two three-hour test sessions on Friday and completed a total of 1447 laps over the course of the day – of which 802 were completed in the morning session. Yana Kapoor completed the most laps of any driver in each session, with 55 completed in the morning – joint-top with Rosanne Den Drijver – and 50 in the afternoon.
Farfus set her fastest time of the morning session just before the two-hour mark, as the only driver to set a time in the 1m46s’. The Brazilian was three tenths of a second faster than Sofia Zanfari, with Den Drijver and Japanese driver Kokoro Sato separated by just 0.005 seconds in third and fourth respectively.
Zandvoort wildcard Zoe Florescu completed the top five, ahead of Mercedes junior Luna Fluxa Cross and GB4 top female Jordyn Martin. Ella Lahdemaa, Ginevra Panzeri and Danielsson completed the top 10.
In the afternoon, Danielsson headed to the top of the timing sheets early on, setting a 1m47.939s inside the opening 10 minutes.
Sato improved the pace by just under two tenths soon after, maintaining the top spot for half an hour before Lahdemaa and then Danielsson lowered the benchmark further. Danielsson set her fastest time of the session at the start of the second hour, with few improvements in the leaderboard after that.
Lahdemaa would finish the day 0.282s off Danielsson in second, with Farfus finishing inside the top three in both sessions with the third-fastest time.
Japanese duo of Sato and Sara Matsui completed the top five, with Fluxa Cross just two thousandths of a second slower in sixth. Florescu, Den Drijver, Panzeri and Clara Stiebleichinger completed the top 10.
For more information and the full classification, head to the F1 ACADEMY website.
Photo: F1 Academy Ltd | Parc Fermé