MP Motorsport’s Lorenzo Colombo set the pace in the first Formula Renault Eurocup free practice session at Paul Ricard.

The second-year driver set the pace pretty much throughout, only briefly being moved from the top of the times by R-ace GP’s Oscar Piastri and M2 Competition’s Kush Maini.

Most of the best times were set early in the second half of the session, with only a few improvements happening late on.

Piastri got within 0.126 seconds of Colombo’s 2m00.974s lap, pushing Maini down from second place with five minutes to go. His R-ace?team-mates Caio Collet and Alexander Smolyar were fourth and fifth fastest, and the only other two cars within a second of the pace.

Frank Bird (Arden) edged Ugo de Wilde (JD Motorsport) for sixth, while FA Racing by Drivex’s Callan O’Keeffe pushed MP Motorsport driver and championship leader Victor Martins down to ninth.

The session was stopped with just over two minutes to go after O’Keeffe’s team-mate Patrick Schott stopped on track at Turn 12.

Free Practice results