Belgium’s 17-year old Michelangelo Amendola set the early pace dominating both free practice sessions as the eighth season of the International MRF Challenge commenced at the Dubai Autodrome on Thursday.
Amendola, who finished fifth overall in the 2018-19 championship, topped the time sheet in the first session clocking one minute, 58.551 seconds and followed it up with a 01:58.806 in the next.
Finishing second behind Amendola in the red-flag interrupted FP1 were two other 17-year-olds, Great Britain’s Joshua Mason (01:59.882) and Yuven Sundaramoorthy from the United States (01:59.912).
The lone Indian in the fray, Chetan Korada struggled in both sessions, finishing last in the nine-car field.
Amendola was pleased as punch with his performance.
“It went pretty well considering that I was driving after a long time. The last time I drove was in Chennai in February (2018-19), so I had no preparations.
“I only did a lot of physical and mental training. However, it felt like home, getting back into the car!” said Amendola.
