Indians AbroadNon-F1

Arjun Maini fastest on Day 2: F2 Test

Arjun Maini, fastest on Day 2 at Shakir, Bahrain on Thursday. Photo: FIA

Bahrain, March 22: Trident’s Arjun Maini ended the second day of the FIA Formula 2 Championship test here in Sakhir having set a quickest lap of 1:42.779 in the morning session, ending the day faster than ART Grand Prix’s Jack Aitken and Nyck de Vries of Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing.

 The competitors were once again greeted with perfect conditions, scrambling to get on track as soon as the green flag was waved. Maini and Trident teammate Santino Ferrucci were first to reach the circuit, followed in hot pursuit by Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz.
Luca Ghiotto (Campos Vexatec Racing) set the early pace, before trading best times with Delétraz in the opening stages of the session. Intruding on their fight for dominance, George Russell of ART soon displaced the pair from the top before the Swiss driver took six tenths out of his rival to raise the bar further.
Maini then became the first driver to dip below the 1m43s marker, shading Delétraz by almost half a second to end the first hour on top. Artem Markelov (Russian Time) brought out a red flag for a spin at Turn 8 shortly after, but the ensuing burst of running after the session restarted was not enough to end the Indian driver’s stranglehold on the timing screens.
Alexander Albon (DAMS) brought out a second red flag having stopped at the entry to the pitlane, before Aitken provided Maini’s sternest opposition yet having closed to within three tenths of the fastest lap. The final fifteen minutes brought out a final dash of activity, but Maini’s time proved to be unbeatable at the close of the session, with Aitken beating de Vries to second.
Ghiotto ended the session fourth best ahead of DelĂ©traz, with Russell and compatriot Lando Norris (Carlin) sixth and seventh. Maximilian GĂ¼nther (BWT Arden) beat Tadasuke Makino (Russian Time) to ninth, with both edging ahead of Arden’s Nirei Fukuzumi.
Race simulations took priority in the afternoon’s action as the temperatures rose, and Charouz took the initiative to send Antonio Fuoco and Delétraz out first. Ralph Boschung (MP Motorsport) set the early pace on his opening run, finding a time in the 1m47s which he then bested by over a second on his next set of laps.
The Swiss led the standings throughout the majority of the session, before Ferrucci pipped the MP driver by a tenth of a second in the final 15 minutes to take control of the timesheets. He duly whittled his time down to a 1:45.522, which proved to be unbeatable throughout the remainder of the session.
Boschung held onto second – half a second quicker than Maini’s afternoon best – while DelĂ©traz took fourth ahead of Norris. Roberto Merhi (MP Motorsport) was sixth fastest, beating Aitken and Fuoco, while Sergio Sette Camara (Carlin) was ninth ahead of Fukuzumi. Aitken achieved the largest lap count of anyone across the day, circulating 86 times in total.
Tomorrow’s final session will once more open from 9am until 12pm, with a two-hour interval before the running returns at 2pm. The test will conclude at 5pm.
FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 2 Morning Session
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1
Arjun Maini
Trident
1:42.779
34
2
Jack Aitken
ART Grand Prix
1:43.003
34
3
Nyck de Vries
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:43.080
40
4
Luca Ghiotto
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:43.111
24
5
Louis Delétraz
Charouz Racing System
1:43.145
17
6
George Russell
ART Grand Prix
1:43.161
40
7
Lando Norris
Carlin
1:43.212
31
8
Maximilian GĂ¼nther
BWT Arden
1:43.315
22
9
Tadasuke Makino
RUSSIAN TIME
1:43.415
20
10
Nirei Fukuzumi
BWT Arden
1:43.467
27
11
Antonio Fuoco
Charouz Racing System
1:43.498
33
12
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:43.520
29
13
Roberto Merhi
MP Motorsport
1:43.610
17
14
Sergio Sette Camara
Carlin
1:43.612
29
15
Artem Markelov
RUSSIAN TIME
1:43.641
28
16
Sean Gelael
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:43.686
37
17
Santino Ferrucci
Trident
1:43.785
22
18
Roy Nissany
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:43.971
26
19
Alexander Albon
DAMS
1:44.001
21
20
Ralph Boschung
MP Motorsport
1:44.164
14
FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 2 Afternoon Session
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1
Santino Ferrucci
Trident
1:45.522
41
2
Ralph Boschung
MP Motorsport
1:45.664
17
3
Arjun Maini
Trident
1:46.162
39
4
Louis Delétraz
Charouz Racing System
1:46.737
39
5
Lando Norris
Carlin
1:47.431
33
6
Roberto Merhi
MP Motorsport
1:47.719
25
7
Jack Aitken
ART Grand Prix
1:48.354
52
8
Antonio Fuoco
Charouz Racing System
1:48.855
38
9
Sergio Sette Camara
Carlin
1:48.862
25
10
Nirei Fukuzumi
BWT Arden
1:48.867
33
11
Roy Nissany
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:48.944
38
12
Sean Gelael
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:49.512
40
13
Luca Ghiotto
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:49.688
37
14
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:49.796
40
15
Alexander Albon
DAMS
1:49.995
26
16
Nyck de Vries
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:50.814
38
17
Artem Markelov
RUSSIAN TIME
1:50.897
35
18
Tadasuke Makino
RUSSIAN TIME
1:51.217
34
19
George Russell
ART Grand Prix
1:51.243
44
20
Maximilian GĂ¼nther
BWT Arden
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