Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Formula 2 championship leader Paul Aron was fastest in free practice ahead of round six of the season at Barcelona.
The AIX Racing duo of Joshua Duerksen and Taylor Barnard were first on track together with Rodin Motorsport’s Ritomo Miyata, who would complete the most laps of anyone as he adjusted back to the F2 car after racing in last weekend’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
Miyata was fastest until Andrea Kimi Antonelli went 0.005 seconds quicker, before Antonelli’s team-mate Ollie Bearman found another two tenths of a second to head a Prema one-two.
A flurry of faster times followed around the mid-point the session, including Aron’s effort of 1m26.922s. The Hitech GP driver’s time would go unbeaten as focus turned to longer runs over the remainder of the session.
Enzo Fittipaldi was second for Van Amersfoort Racing with Franco Colapinto third for MP Motorsport, followed by the DAMS duo of Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa.
Bearman and Antonelli ended up 11th and 14th respectively, with the latter oversteering into the gravel trap on the outside of the final corner at the end of the session.
The top 19 drivers were covered by less than a second, with the Invicta pair of Kush Maini and Gabriel Bortoleto slowest of them. Zane Maloney was just over a second off the pace in 20th.
Free practice results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 1m26.922 | 15 | |
| 2 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m27.058s | +0.136s | 13 |
| 3 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 1m27.102s | +0.180s | 14 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 1m27.250s | +0.328s | 13 |
| 5 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 1m27.263s | +0.341s | 13 |
| 6 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.304s | +0.382s | 13 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Campos Racing | 1m27.320s | +0.398s | 11 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 1m27.355s | +0.433s | 13 |
| 9 | Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | 1m27.367s | +0.445s | 14 |
| 10 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.379s | +0.457s | 13 |
| 11 | Ollie Bearman | Prema | 1m27.416s | +0.494s | 14 |
| 12 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 1m27.435s | +0.513s | 14 |
| 13 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 1m27.523s | +0.601s | 14 |
| 14 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema | 1m27.634s | +0.712s | 15 |
| 15 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin Motorsport | 1m27.639s | +0.717s | 24 |
| 16 | Joshua Duerksen | AIX Racing | 1m27.742s | +0.820s | 19 |
| 17 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m27.818s | +0.896s | 14 |
| 18 | Kush Maini | Invicta Racing | 1m27.865s | +0.943s | 13 |
| 19 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta Racing | 1m27.914s | +0.992s | 11 |
| 20 | Zane Maloney | Rodin Motorsport | 1m27.994s | +1.072s | 14 |
| 21 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 1m28.124s | +1.202s | 13 |
| 22 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 1m28.314s | +1.392s | 19 |