Zoom Bortolotti fastest of the young-guns

The top three finishers in this year's Italian F3 series this week made their F1 test debuts at Ferrari's local Fiorano circuit.

In a joint initiative of the Maranello-based team and the Italian governing body ACI-CSAI, Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Piscopo and Salvatore Cicatelli all got turns at the wheel of the constructors' championship-winning F2008 on Wednesday.

F3 champion Bortolotti, who is just 18, achieved the extraordinary feat of beating the fully competitive benchmark lap time - just over 59 seconds - set by regular Ferrari test driver Andrea Bertolini.

"I was able to get comfortable very quickly," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport, "because this car keeps giving you confidence.

"At the end I captured the record, so it could not have gone better," he added.

Piscopo's best lap was a 1:00.3, while Cicatelli's best was a 1:01.2 after 33 laps.

Source: GMM
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