F2 pre-season test ends with Shields topping final session for AIX

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

AIX Racing’s Cian Shields ended Formula 2’s pre-season test at Barcelona on top on Thursday afternoon.

Only Hitech GP and AIX completed installation laps in the first 27 minutes, with Invicta Racing then heading out. The first laptime came 34 minutes into the three-hour session, a 1m32.188s from AIX’s Emmo Fittipaldi.

Shields swiftly beat him by 0.773s, and Fittipaldi improved to be 0.152s off before Hitech’s drivers laid down their first laptimes. Colton Herta posted a 1m30.912s, then Ritomo Miyata went 0.157s quicker.

Shields got within 0.886s of Miyata’s benchmark, and 43 minutes in Invicta’s Joshua Duerksen became the fifth driver with a laptime to their name as ART Grand Prix, Campos Racing and Rodin Motorsport embarked on installation laps.

On his next atttempt, Duerksen set a 1m30.381s for third place, and Rodin’s Martinius Stenshorne was 0.034s behind with his opening effort. When team-mate Alex Dunne completed his first flying lap, his 1m29.534s made him fastest by 0.221s. Stenshorne then improved to 1m29.960s in third.

Dunne was only on top for a minute, as Invicta’s Rafael Camara edged ahead by 0.099s. But Dunne responded, reclaiming first place by 0.073s. More than half of the field was now active, and Herta set a personal best in fifth, 0.6s off the pace.

Campos’s line-up posted their first flying laps 57 minutes in, with Noel Leon beating Nikola Tsolov to sixth. Tsolov found more pace on his next two laps, and a 1m29.740s put him third.

Hour two began with the first laptimes from ART GP’s drivers, which sent them straight to the top. Kush Maini set a 1m28.582s to lead Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak by 0.291s, as Stenshorne improved in seventh. DAMS’ Roman Bilinski and the Dutch teams MP Motorsport and Van Amersfoort Racing had still not left their garages.

With the track more rubbered in, those going straight into flying laps could extract more pace and Trident’s Laurens van Hoepen went third fastest, 0.553s off Maini, five minutes into hour two as most drivers embarked on long runs.

Van Hoepen’s team-mate John Bennett and Prema’s Sebastian Montoya soon appeared on the timesheet, and Nico Varrone departed VAR’s garage while Rafael Villagomez remained there all afternoon.

Tsolov and Leon improved in sixth and eighth at the 70-minute mark, and the first laptime from a DAMS driver appeared.

It took another seven minutes for MP’s duo and Bilinski to finally set timed laps, with the latter taking 12th place. Approaching the session’s halfway mark, 20 drivers were on track and Varrone went ninth fastest with his first flying lap.

Camara rose from fifth to third with 75 minutes to go, 0.059s ahead of van Hoepen, and the long runs concluded as hour two ended.

Varrone started racking up laps, but eventually only he and Herta were on track and then he was alone with 45 minutes to go before Hitech’s drivers headed back out. Four minutes on Varrone pitted, and later AIX’s drivers left the pits.

Shields lowered the pace by 1.911s with 33 minutes remaining, shooting up from 20th place. Fittipaldi went fastest by 0.32s three minutes later, and both pitted.

Several drivers started new runs, while Shields returned to track for a few laps and reclaimed top spot by 0.082s with 22 minutes left of the test.

The track got busier, and two improvements lifted Prema’s Mari Boya to fifth, 2.673s off Shields, 14 minutes from the end.

Shield’s advantage was cut to 0.039s by Leon four minutes after that, and Herta and Miyata then set a 1m27.869s and 1m28.788s respectively to rise to fourth and sixth.

Red flags waved when van Hoepen stopped on the pit straight, and there was scant action in the three minutes left after that.

Afternoon session results