Bearman leads Prema team-mate Antonelli on first afternoon of F2 test

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Ollie Bearman beat Prema team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli to top spot on day one of Formula 2 post-season testing by 0.165 seconds.

PHM Racing’s Joshua Duerksen was first to set a flying lap in the afternoon session, putting a 1m40.009s on the board seven minutes in. He improved to 1m39.137s on hid next lap, then Rodin Carlin’s Ritomo Miyata lowered the benchmark twice to 1m37.795s and put himself on top by 1.341s.

Hitech GP’s Paul Aron went top with a 1m37.555s laptime 24 minutes into the three-hour session, and a few minutes later team-mate Amaury Cordeel went third fastest. After 38 minutes only 14 drivers had set laps, with Campos Racing not sending out its drivers until far later and Virtuosi Racing’s Kush Maini only leaving the garage after 80 minutes.

Campos was at the top at the start of the second hour as Pepe Marti set a 1m37.529s, then he immediately headed back to the pits. Prema’s drivers racked up 13 laps each before actually completing one without a trip to the pits, and when Antonelli finally posted a laptime 85 minutes in he went straight into fifth place.

Bearman displaced him moments later, but then had his laptime deleted for exceeding track limits at turn 16. He responded two laps later by going top with a 1m37.316s. Antonelli improved in sixth, and Maini’s first flying lap put him in eighth as he navigated a near-empty Yas Marina Circuit.

As the session entered its second half, Antonelli got within 0.09s of Bearman’s pace but also fell foul of track limits and dropped back to seventh.

There was then little change in the top 10 on the timesheet until with 65 minutes to go Marti set a 1m37.463s to go second fastest. Two minutes later Aron beat him with a 1m37.332s, as Cordeel improved in fifth place and PHM’s Joshua Mason set his first flying lap (after circulating off the pace or heading to the pits on each of his previous 21 laps) to go straight into ninth place.

Trident’s Richard Verschoor went seventh fastest with 49 minutes left on the clock, and the action ramped up a few minutes later as Bearman lowered the pace to 1m37.243s and Verschoor climbed to fourth with a 1m37.391s.

Antonelli then went second fastest, 0.049s off Bearman, but a minute later Virtuosi’s Gabriel Bortoleto set a new 1m37.110s benchmark. Martins got within 0.124s of it with 40 minutes to go, then a while later he became the first driver to break into the 1m36s. Bortoleto improved to 1m37.044s in second, Cordeel went third fastest before heading to the pits.

Campos’s Isack Hadjar climbed to fourth with half an hour of the day remaining, then took over top spot with a 1m36.876s lap set with 19 minutes to go. Verschoor beat him with a 1m36.425s on what was now a busy track, and Cordeel returned to third with a 1m36.951s.

MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger was briefly third with 15 minutes to go as he set a 1m36.945s, before Bearman returned to the top with a 1m36.294s. He and Cordeel found more pace in first and third, then Bearman improved yet again with six minutes left on the clock as he set a 1m36.092s.

Antonelli had dropped to 11th when his fastest lap was deleted but followed Bearman across the line and went second fastest with a 1m36.257s, and two minutes later Martins snuck into third.

Nine drivers met the chequered flag, and in total 14 laps by eight drivers were deleted for track limits abuse. Cordeel and Hadjar got warnings for completing practice starts in the wrong area.

Afternoon session results