Sakhir (Bahrain) 2 March 2020: A rookie driver went fastest for the second day running of pre-season testing at Sakhir, Bahrain, as Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala beat out the experience of 2019’s best debutant, Guanyu Zhou, and fellow F3 graduate, Pedro Piquet, for top spot in the standings.

File photo of Jehan Daruvala with Prema Racing in 2019. Photo Prema Racing

The field were fast out of the shutters in

the first session of the day, with all bar Jack Aitken getting out there in the

opening 15 minutes. Of those, it was Zhou who went fastest, testing the water

on a sandy track with a tour of 1:46.041.

There was red flag period as Nikita Mazepin

stopped on track, before order resumed and Callum Ilott replaced his teammate

at the top of the chart. The Briton was swiftly pipped by Artem Markelov, as

the Russian took the times below 1m 44s for the first time. Shortly after, he

was joined in the top two by his new teammate Giuliano Alesi, as newcomers HWA

RACELAB started to find their feet.

Impetus switched to longer runs and garage

work for the next hour, as Markelov remained untouched at the top of the order.

Aitken and Luca Ghiotto both enjoyed spells propping up the Russian, with

similar times, while undertaking more than 100 laps between the three of them.

There was a late flurry of laptimes as the session drew to a close, with Mazepin roaring round in 1:43.825 to take the morning’s fastest lap with less than 10 minutes to go. Ghiotto got within 0.005s of his tour, ahead of Markelov, who only missed out himself by 0.057s. Mazepin picked up from where he left off as the cars returned to the windy circuit for the afternoon session, with the sun setting on the Sakhir desert. The Russian took less than half an hour to beat the fastest time from the morning, as they dropped below 1m 42s for the first time on Day 2. He was backed up by the continually impressive Daruvala, thriving with Carlin on just his second day in F2 machinery.

Robert Shwartzman had been quiet in the

opening day and a half of testing, but made his maiden appearance in the top

three of times early during the afternoon, as he began to get to grips with his

PREMA.

The rookies were running the show at this

point, as teammates Daruvala and Yuki Tsunoda jumped to first and second on

their 10th tour of the track this afternoon. Experience made a comeback though,

as Aitken, Ghiotto and Sean Gelael stole the top three places in one fell

swoop, by slashing the times to below 1m 42s for the first time in testing.

Shwartzman managed to squeeze his way back

into that three as he continued to show what he is capable of in an F2 car.

Sergey Sirotkin (ART) then came to the fore, as the session entered its final

half hour; the Russian nudged ahead of Zhou in the standings, going just 0.075s

quicker.

The script was yet again re-written in the

very final moments, when Daruvala thundered around the track to set the fastest

time and further solidify his growing confidence. The Indian racer set 1:41.260

on his final tour, before diving into the garage to cap off a successful day’s

work.

Zhou, Piquet and Mick Schumacher also all

set fast laps on their final tour of the Bahrain International circuit, to

complete the top four places, pushing Sirotkin down to fifth. Aitken, Ilott,

Nobuharu Matsushita, Felipe Drugovich and Shwartzman completed the top ten.

FIA

Formula 2 Championship 2020 – Pre-season testing, Day 2, morning session

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Nikita Mazepin

Hitech Grand Prix

1:43.825

19

2

Luca Ghiotto

Hitech Grand Prix

1:43.830

29

3

Artem Markelov

BWT HWA RACELAB

1:43.882

23

4

Guanyu Zhou

UNI-Virtuosi

1:43.978

31

5

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:43.986

36

6

Giuliano Alesi

BWT HWA RACELAB

1:44.987

32

7

Marino Sato

Trident

1:45.251

37

8

Callum Ilott

UNI-Virtuosi

1:45.578

29

9

Felipe Drugovich

MP Motorsport

1:45.636

29

10

Guilherme Samaia

Campos Racing

1:45.867

28

11

Louis Deletraz

Charouz Racing System

1:46.997

39

12

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:47.231

38

13

Pedro Piquet

Charouz Racing System

1:47.242

41

14

Nobuharu Matsushita

MP Motorsport

1:47.573

37

15

Sean Gelael

DAMS

1:47.590

43

16

Sergey Sirotkin

ART Grand Prix

1:47.601

33

17

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:48.003

38

18

Dan Ticktum

DAMS

1:48.036

37

19

Marcus Armstrong

ART Grand Prix

1:48.852

42

20

Yuki Tsunoda

Carlin

1:48.857

45

21

Jehan Daruvala

Carlin

1:48.938

45

22

Roy Nissany

Trident

1:49.207

35

FIA Formula 2 Championship 2020 –

Pre-season testing, Day 2, afternoon session

Driver

Team

Lap time

LAPS

1

Jehan Daruvala

Carlin

1:41.260

23

2

Guanyu Zhou

UNI-Virtuosi

1:41.377

29

3

Pedro Piquet

Charouz Racing System

1:41.491

24

4

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:41.531

33

5

Sergey Sirotkin

ART Grand Prix

1:41.602

31

6

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:41.706

21

7

Callum Ilott

UNI-Virtuosi

1:41.758

25

8

Nobuharu Matsushita

MP Motorsport

1:41.784

15

9

Felipe Drugovich

MP Motorsport

1:41.807

20

10

Robert Shwartzman

PREMA Racing

1:41.972

29

11

Dan Ticktum

DAMS

1:41.976

24

12

Sean Gelael

DAMS

1:42.069

20

13

Marcus Armstrong

ART Grand Prix

1:42.098

25

14

Luca Ghiotto

Hitech Grand Prix

1:42.156

27

15

Roy Nissany

Trident

1:42.355

20

16

Yuki Tsunoda

Carlin

1:42.393

23

17

Nikita Mazepin

Hitech Grand Prix

1:42.557

23