Home Featured Felipe Drugovich tops F2 practice times in windy Bahrain

Felipe Drugovich tops F2 practice times in windy Bahrain

by Roger Gascoigne

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich headed the times in FIA Formula 2 practice as teams focused on race preparations rather than outright pace in blustery conditions in Bahrain.

Drugovich, who was victorious at this circuit with the Dutch team in 2020, set his time of 1m54.484s, including purple sector best times in both sectors one and two, with six minutes remaining.

The only major improvements in the final minutes came first from DAMS driver Roy Nissany, before his time was beaten by team-mate Ayumu Iwasa.

With times just under three seconds off Liam Lawson’s best from pre-season testing, there is clearly extra speed to be found by all teams later in qualifying. However, the times of Iwasa and Nissany will be an early fillip to DAMS and their new owner, Charles Pic.

MP Motorsport was the first team on track with Drugovich and team-mate Clement Novalak setting the initial pace, before Van Amersfoort’s Jake Hughes moved to the top of the times.

In a flurry of fastest times with a third of the session remaining, Lawson, Marcus Armstrong and Jehan Daruvala all took turns at the top of the timing screens.

Hitech GP’s Armstrong ended the 45-minute session in fifth, split from fellow Kiwi Lawson at the flag by Prema’s Daruvala.

Logan Sargeant sat out part of the session while adjustments were made to his Carlin entry, immediately posting a fourth-fastest time on his return to the track. Improvements elsewhere left him eighth at the close.

Last year’s FIA Formula 3 championship contenders Dennis Hauger and Jack Doohan finished outside the top 10, in 11th and 14th places respectively, just ahead of ART GP’s pairing of Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti.

Practice results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1m44.484s 17
2 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1m44.679s +0.195s 15
3 Roy Nissany DAMS 1m44.754s +0.270s 13
4 Clement Novalak MP Motorsport 1m44.769s +0.285s 19
5 Marcus Armstrong Hitech GP 1m44.833s +0.349s 12
6 Jehan Daruvala Prema 1m44.838s +0.354s 11
7 Liam Lawson Carlin 1m44.886s +0.402s 15
8 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1m45.112s +0.628s 13
9 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing 1m45.241s +0.757s 14
10 Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 1m45.244s +0.760s 15
11 Dennis Hauger Prema 1m45.370s +0.886s 11
12 Richard Verschoor Trident 1m45.414s +0.930s 14
13 Juri Vips Hitech GP 1m45.476s +0.992s 12
14 Jack Doohan Virtuosi 1m45.548s +1.064s 14
15 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1m45.845s +1.361s 15
16 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1m46.047s +1.563s 14
17 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1m46.200s +1.716s 14
18 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 1m46.224s +1.740s 17
19 Calan Williams Trident 1m46.393s +1.909s 15
20 Marino Sato Virtuosi 1m46.750s +2.266s 13
21 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System 1m46.842s +2.358s 17
22 Cem Bolukbasi Charouz Racing System 1m47.905s +3.421s 16