After a one week break, the SMP F4 Championship is testing again on a Spanish track, but more south this time, as the Series stopped in Albacete, a 3.5 kilometers track, 200 km from Valencia.
The SMP Racing drivers were in force on the first day, as three new youngsters joined, Aleksander Maslennikov, Nikita Sitnikov and Denis Mavlanov. If the last name sounds familiar to you, it is surely because his brother is already driving in Formula cars. They were along the regular drivers from Russia, Vladimir Atoev, Nerses Isaakyan and Aleksey Korneev, plus the Finn Niko Kari.
With an air temperature of 4 degrees and a track temperature of 6 degrees, it is fairly coldly that the day begun. The three new Russian drivers were learning the car and trying to adapt to new conditions. If Nikita Sitnikov already did few laps in a single-seater, Mavlanov and Maslennikov were totally discovering a formula car.
At the end of the day, it was 16 years old Vladimir Atoev who set the fastest time, lapping the Spanish track in 1.30,91, closely followed by Finn Niko Kari in 1.31,15.
After this morning first run where he did a mistake, Isaakyan had to recover his confidence, and managed at the end of the day to sign a 1.31,26 with Aleksey Korneev behind him, only off by four tenth. And from the rookies, Nikita Sitnikov had an impressive first day as he managed to be in the 1.31 window on his last outing.
