Camara quickest as 0.067s splits top five on second morning of F2 test

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Invicta Racing’s Rafael Camara was quickest as just 0.067 seconds split the top five on the second morning of Formula 2 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

The three-hour session was disrupted seven minutes in when ART Grand Prix’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak spun before anyone had set laptimes.

Once green flags waved again, the fielded head out and after 28 minutes it was DAMS’ Dino Beganovic who led the way with a 1m25.877s. Trident’s John Bennett and Laurens van Hoepen were his closest rivals, 0.072 and 0.275 seconds behind. Six drivers had completed no running at that point.

Two minutes later, van Hoepen bettered Beganovic by 0.066s, and Campos Racing’s drivers set their first flying laps. Nikola Tsolov slotted into fifth, between Rodin Motorsport’s Martinius Stenshorne and Alex Dunne, and Noel Leon went eighth fastest behind DAMS’ Roman Bilinski. Prema’s Mari Boya was the only other driver within a second of the pace.

Leon improved to 1m26.441s to move into fourth, then the first laps at a representative pace appeared from MP Motorsport’s drivers and Prema’s Sebastian Montoya. He went straight into fifth place, then MP’s Gabriele Mini set a 1m25.346s to lower the pace by 0.456s. When his team-mate Oliver Goethe crossed the line, he matched Leon’s laptime in sixth.

Prema’s duo responded, with Montoya and then Boya occupying fifth in quick succession 38 minutes in. They soon each lost two positions though as Goethe got within 0.015s of Mini, Bennett improved to 1m25.663s in third and ART GP’s Kush Maini took fifth place with a 1m25.852s.

The first flying laps from Hitech GP’s drivers were set 10 minutes later, as van Hoepen went quickest in all three sectors to post a new 1m24.210s benchmark. Most of the field was in the pits, but Stenshorne and Dunne stayed on track and personal bests put them fourth and eighth.

There was a brief red flag period towards the end of hour one triggered by Bennett spinning. Boya led the field back out, and at the 65-minute mark he laid down a 1m24.454s that slashed van Hoepen’s gap to 0.244s. Montoya was a further 0.563s back, then a flurry of improvements came in.

Maini outpaced van Hoepen by 0.267s, just before Goethe set a 1m23.793s to go quickest by 0.15s. Mini returned to the top four with a 1m24.237s, Montoya improved again in sixth and Camara sat seventh.

Before he was able to find more pace, Mini stopped on track at turn 12 and the session was red-flagged for 17 minutes. As the session half of the morning began, Stenshorne posted a 1m24.159s to rise from eighth to third.

Three minutes later, a 1m23.646s meant Dunne very briefly held top spot before Camara went quicker by 0.026s with a laptime that would go unbeaten. Maini made a small gain in fourth, Inthraphuvasak was now fifth, Bennett improved in eighth and Invicta’s Joshua Duerksen finally left the pits for the first time but would never lap at pace.

Van Hoepen became the fifth driver to lap sub-1m24s with 76 minutes to go, then was bettered by 0.015s as Hitech’s Colton Herta jumped the order from 21st where team-mate Ritomo Miyata now languished.

As the track became quiet, Bennett found more pace and a new personal best left him in third, 0.034s shy of Camara.

Inthraphuvasak got within 0.018s of the benchmark laptime with 64 minutes left of the session as more drivers headed out, and Stenshorne completed a top five now split by 0.067s.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Nico Varrone went sixth fastest as the final hour began, 0.13s off the top, and later on there was a lengthy red flag interruption brought about Leon spinning into the gravel at turn nine. Although the track was busy after that, only one driver improved in the last half-hour.

Morning session results