Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung ended the first day of the Formula 2 in-season test in Barcelona on top of the times, leading an afternoon session with way more on-track action than the morning one.
After earlier rain the track dried out during the lunch break and drivers were determined to make up for the time lost. While some focused on race pace early in the afternoon, others went out aiming at fine tuning their set-up over one lap. All would run on the hard tyre, as a consequence of the restricted number of soft sets available – just two for the three days of testing.
Trident’s Richard Verschoor topped the charts in the early stages of the session, putting the benchmark at 1m29.788s. The first red flag of the afternoon was shown 45 minutes into the session as Hitech GP’s Juri Vips ran off the track at turn three, losing his front wing and damaging the suspension. Once the track was green again, Carlin’s Logan Sargeant equalled Verschoor’s time moving himself up to second place.
Halfway through the session, several drivers went out for a qualifying run, which resulted in Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong and then Boschung setting the fastest time just before MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich bettered both of them.
As the session entered its final hour, Boschung put on a set of soft tyres and went fastest again with a laptime of 1m27.929s. That lap would allow the Swiss driver to stay on top until the chequered flag. Armstrong, DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa and Virtuosi Racing’s Marino Sato also fitted the softest tyre in their cars, which allowed them to set the second, third and fourth fastest laps respectively after a second red flag.
Logan Sargeant was the driver who caused the second stoppage of the afternoon when his Carlin car came to a halt in the first sector due to mechanical issues. Charouz Racing System’s Cem Bolukbasi didn’t take part in this session as a result of the damage his car sustained in this morning’s crash.
Afternoon session
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1m27.929s | 55 | |
| 2 | Marcus Armstrong | Hitech GP | 1m28.170s | +0.241s | 34 |
| 3 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 1m28.331s | +0.402s | 51 |
| 4 | Marino Sato | Virtuosi | 1m28.436s | +0.507s | 42 |
| 5 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | 1m29.131s | +1.202s | 37 |
| 6 | Theo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.312s | +1.383s | 52 |
| 7 | Frederik Vesti | ART Grand Prix | 1m29.383s | +1.454s | 49 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 1m29.439s | +1.510s | 54 |
| 9 | Jake Hughes | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m29.492s | +1.563s | 36 |
| 10 | Clement Novalak | MP Motorsport | 1m29.495s | +1.566s | 35 |
| 11 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 1m29.777s | +1.848s | 44 |
| 12 | Logan Sargeant | Carlin | 1m29.788s | +1.859s | 31 |
| 13 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 1m29.824s | +1.895s | 36 |
| 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Charouz Racing System | 1m29.844s | +1.915s | 41 |
| 15 | Jehan Daruvala | Prema | 1m29.909s | +1.980s | 35 |
| 16 | Calan Williams | Trident | 1m29.975s | +2.046s | 55 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m29.993s | +2.064s | 39 |
| 18 | Liam Lawson | Carlin | 1m30.180s | +2.251s | 49 |
| 19 | Dennis Hauger | Prema | 1m30.439s | +2.510s | 36 |
| 20 | Juri Vips | Hitech GP | 1m30.488s | +2.559s | 15 |
| 21 | Olli Caldwell | Campos Racing | 1m30.820s | +2.891s | 54 |
| Cem Bolukbasi | Charouz Racing System | No time | 0 |