Barcelona, 24 April 2021: MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor continued his impressive start to life in Formula 2, setting the fastest time of testing so far with a lap of 1:28.280, to put himself at the top of the leaderboard on Day 2 in Barcelona.

The Dutchman was one of the surprise packages of Round 1 with MP, finishing fifth in the second Sprint Race and fourth in the Feature, and has continued in the same vein in the second test of the year, following up yesterday’s top 10 finish with P1.

Ralph Boschung went second fastest with Campos Racing, 0.194s off the leading pace, ahead of UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich.

MORNING

Starting the day under the sizzling Spanish sun, the morning of Day 2 felt like an opportune time for Qualifying simulations. Sticking on fresh hard tyres, the field initially headed out to get a feel of the circuit, with MP’s Lirim Zendeli setting the early pace at 1:29.440, before being bumped down the order by Boschung, lapping just over two tenths quicker.

The majority of the field switched to medium tyres at around 10.30am, but their runs were briefly halted by a Red Flag after Roy Nissany spun at Turn 3 and found himself stuck in the gravel. Despite the spin, the DAMS still managed the sixth fastest time of the morning.

When the session resumed, Drugovich went top with the first sub 1m 29s time of the test. DAMS’ Marcus Armstrong dove into second shortly after and was backed up ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire. As more qualifying runs came in, the duo slid down the order and finished fourth and seventh.

Wearing fresh mediums, the second MP of Verschoor jumped to first, beating Drugovich’s time by 0.246s with a lap of 1:28.280. Before the session was up, Boschung nipped between the two to steal second, 0.194s off the leading time.

Bent Viscaal is bidding to earn a second round with Trident in Monaco and did his chances no harm with the fifth fastest time. Zendeli finished the morning in eighth, ahead of Day 1’s quickest driver, Christian Lundgaard. Liam Lawson completed the top 10 with Hitech Grand Prix.

AFTERNOON

Gianluca Petecof got things back underway in the afternoon, taking Campos to the top of the timesheet with a tour of 1:30.684 in the early stages.

After a qualifying simulation in the morning, the afternoon was much more focused on longer runs and data gathering, with Drugovich heading into second, 0.153s behind Petecof, with HWA RACELAB’s Matteo Nannini in third.

There were three disruptions in the second session the day, with Alessio Deledda spinning at Turns 12 and 1, while Robert Shwartzman stopped at Turn 3. The Russian was able to get back out there with PREMA, finishing 10th.

Charouz Racing System pairing David Beckmann and Guilherme Samaia went first and second when things got restarted, with times of 1:29.384 and 1:29.510.

Zendeli followed up a positive morning’s work with another strong showing in the afternoon, diving into sixth between Drugovich and Nannini. Lundgaard was eighth fastest in the afternoon with ART Grand Prix, ahead of Boschung.

The final day of testing will commence on Sunday at 9am local time.

2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA TEST, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION

 DRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS1Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport1:28.280512Ralph BoschungCampos Racing1:28.474323Felipe DrugovichUNI-Virtuosi1:28.544454Marcus ArmstrongDAMS1:28.670355Bent ViscaalTrident1:28.675396Roy NissanyDAMS1:28.698367Théo PourchaireART Grand Prix1:28.766488Lirim ZendeliMP Motorsport1:28.801419Christian LundgaardART Grand Prix1:28.8054910Liam LawsonHitech Grand Prix1:28.8104011Jüri VipsHitech Grand Prix1:28.8725312Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:28.8805013Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:28.8843214Gianluca PetecofCampos Racing1:28.9293715Dan TicktumCarlin1:29.0123416Oscar PiastriPREMA Racing1:29.0592517Marino SatoTrident1:29.1753218Robert ShwartzmanPREMA Racing1:29.2602419Guliherme SamaiaCharouz Racing System1:30.1254920David BeckmannCharouz Racing System1:30.1944421Matteo NanniniHWA Racelab1:30.8552722Alessio DeleddaHWA Racelab1:32.72126

2021 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP - BARCELONA TEST, DAY 2, AFTERNOON SESSION

 DRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS1David BeckmannCharouz Racing System1:29.384372Guilherme SamaiaCharouz Racing System1:29.510363Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport1:29.951354Gianluca PetecofCampos Racing1:30.684455Felipe DrugovichUNI-Virtuosi1:30.837596Lirim ZendeliMP Motorsport1:30.928337Matteo NanniniHWA RACELAB1:31.033408Christian LundgaardART Grand Prix1:33.557619Ralph BoschungCampos Racing1:34.3564110Robert ShwartzmanPREMA Racing1:34.3634411Théo PourchaireART Grand Prix1:34.4975912Liam LawsonHitech Grand Prix1:34.6584913Jüri VipsHitech Grand Prix1:34.6685114Bent ViscaalTrident1:34.7114315Roy NissanyDAMS1:34.8065916Oscar PiastriPREMA Racing1:34.9074117Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:35.0525518Marino SatoTrident1:35.1964519Marcus ArmstrongDAMS1:35.2705020Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:35.2783921Dan TicktumCarlin1:35.6073922Alessio DeleddaHWA RACELAB1:36.17443