ART GP’s Martins starts final day of F2 testing on top

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

ART Grand Prix’s FIA Formula 3 champion Victor Martins was fastest on the final morning of Formula 2 post-season testing.

Martins set his best lap halfway through his run plan for the session, and his 1m35.908s effort kept him in first place through the final hour without issue.

DAMS initially led the way with Ayumu Iwasa and Arthur Leclerc, with Martins’ team-mate Theo Pourchaire in an arly third place.

Martins then moved ahead after 12 minutes, putting himself 0.027 seconds ahead of Leclerc, and he improved twice to keep himself ahead through the first hour.

Pourchaire took over at the top when he broke into the 1m35s, but he would then find no further laptime gain in the next two hours as the focus switched to long runs. He was just 0.010s faster than Charouz Racing System’s Roy Nissany at the time he moved into first place, with Leclerc 0.046s back in third and Martins 0.134s behind in fourth.

Although there was no personal bests set after that in the second hour for most drivers, some did improve after previously not setting a representative pace. Campos Racing’s Kush Maini had exceeded track limits on all of his flying laps until 75 minutes had passed, and Jehan Daruvala and then Amaury Cordeel rose into fifth place on the timesheet.

It was not just Martins who was able to better Pourchaire going into the final hour, as Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan also set a sub-1m36s lap to squeeze himself between them at the top of the leaderboard before pitting.

Maini managed to end the session in sixth, ahead of Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi and Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar.

For a long time Prema’s Frederik Vesti was over 10s off the pace, but with a few improvements in the final hour he managed to end the session 4.236s back in last place. He had set the pace the previous afternoon.

Morning session results