Mar 5, 2019
[caption id="attachment_8219" align="alignleft" width="5177"] Nyck Vries tops Day 1 on 6th March 2019. An F2 image[/caption]
Barcelona, 6 March 2019: Nyck de Vries set the quickest laptime on the opening day of the second FIA Formula 2 pre-season testing at Barcelona. The Dutchman from ART Grand Prix set a time of 1:28.655 in the afternoon session to lead the way ahead of DAMS’ Sérgio Sette Câmara and rookie Nikita Mazepin.
The only Indian racer Mahaveer Raghunathan of MP Motorsport was 18th fastest in the morning and improved to 16th in the afternoon session. He did 26 laps in the morning and added 27 more in the post-lunch session to gain some useful information for the team.
The pit lane opened at 9.30 local time under grey skies. Both Trident cars hit the track first with Giuliano Alesi leading Ralph Boschung. There was an early red flag a few minutes into the session after MP Motorsport’s Mahaveer Raghunathan stopped on track at Turn 7. The proceedings were halted once more shortly after the re-start so that the marshals could clean the pit lane.
One hour into the session, Raghunathan was the only driver who had set a laptime until his teammate Jordan King found some pace to dip under 1m30s. Carlin’s Louis Delétraz went top in a 1:28.919, heading teammate Nobuharu Matsushita by +0.804s, but de Vries went quickest just before the two-hour mark in a 1:28.821 as Luca Ghiotto slotted in P2 (+0.048s).
At the chequered flag de Vries sat pretty at the top of the standings ahead of Ghiotto and Delétraz. Jack Aitken was fourth ahead of Mazepin, Nicholas Latifi, Matsushita , Alesi, Sette Câmara and Guanyu Zhou.
After a two-hour lunch break, the action resumed under blue skies. The ART pair of de Vries and Mazepin were the first to take to the track, but it was Ghiotto who set the early pace in a 1:29.176. The afternoon session was dedicated to race simulations and pit stop practice. Campos’ Roberto Merhi brought out a first red flag on the one-hour mark after he stopped at Turn 2.
At the re-start, Juan Manuel Correa placed his Sauber Junior Team by Charouz car on P2 but de Vries bettered the American’s time by three tenths. On his next effort, the Dutchman was able to go top whilst teammate Mazepin also set a personal best to move up to second.
In the opening of the final hour, Mick Schumacher claimed the top spot in a 1:28.866 and remained unchallenged until fifteen minutes before the end of the session: de Vries reclaimed P1 as Sette Câmara moved up to P2 to edge Schumacher. Mazepin also improved to take third in the closing stages.
Five minutes before the chequered flag Raghunathan stopped at Turn 8 bringing out one final Red Flag. The session was not restarted. Behind the top three, Schumacher, Ghiotto, Zhou, Sean Gelael, Boschung, Correa and Aitken completed the top ten.
Day 2 will kick off tomorrow at 9.00 local time.
FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 1 Morning Session
DRIVER
TEAM
LAPTIME
LAPS
1
Nyck de Vries
ART Grand Prix
1:28.821
18
2
Luca Ghiotto
UNI Virtuosi
1:28.869
16
3
Louis Delétraz
Carlin
1:28.875
31
4
Jack Aitken
Campos Racing
1:28.928
21
5
Nikita Mazepin
ART Grand Prix
1:29.107
17
6
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:29.343
30
7
Nobuharu Matsushita
Carlin
1:29.413
32
8
Giuliano Alesi
Trident
1:29.492
23
9
Sérgio Sette Câmara
DAMS
1:29.555
20
10
Guanyu Zhou
UNI Virtuosi
1:29.589
13
11
Ralph Boschung
Trident
1:29.708
26
12
Anthoine Hubert
BWT Arden
1:29.709
18
13
Jordan King
MP Motorsport
1:29.743
23
14
Roberto Merhi
Campos Racing
1:29.752
35
15
Callum Ilott
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:29.796
15
16
Juan Manuel Correa
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:30.000
16
17
Tatiana Calderon
BWT Arden
1:30.773
22
18
Mahaveer Raghunathan
MP Motorsport
1:34.373
26
19
Mick Schumacher
PREMA Racing
--
30
20
Sean Gelael
PREMA Racing
--
32
FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 1 Afternoon Session
DRIVER
TEAM
LAPTIME
LAPS
1
Nyck de Vries
ART Grand Prix
1:28.655
37
2
Sérgio Sette Câmara
DAMS
1:28.772
31
3
Nikita Mazepin
ART Grand Prix
1:28.829
43
4
Mick Schumacher
PREMA Racing
1:28.886
29
5
Luca Ghiotto
UNI Virtuosi
1:28.993
33
6
Guanyu Zhou
UNI Virtuosi
1:29.070
27
7
Sean Gelael
PREMA Racing
1:29.180
28
8
Ralph Boschung
Trident
1:29.249
32
9
Juan Manuel Correa
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:29.391
27
10
Jack Aitken
Campos Racing
1:29.459
63
11
Callum Ilott
Sauber Junior Team by Charouz
1:29.776
29
12
Anthoine Hubert
BWT Arden
1:29.848
37
13
Jordan King
MP Motorsport
1:29.952
19
14
Giuliano Alesi
Trident
1:30.169
34
15
Tatiana Calderon
BWT Arden
1:30.185
31
16
Mahaveer Raghunathan
MP Motorsport
1:31.639
27
17
Louis Delétraz
Carlin
1:34.850
43
18
Nobuharu Matsushita
Carlin
1:35.235
34
19
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:35.290
36
20
Roberto Merhi
Campos Racing
1:35.664
23
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