Lindblad pips Mini in afternoon session on day one of F2 testing

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad pipped Prema’s Gabriele Mini to the fastest lap in the afternoon session on day one of Formula 2 pre-season testing at Barcelona.

Having been unable to complete a flying lap in the morning, Rodin Motorsport’s Christian Mansell was quick to get out on track and rack up mileage. His early 1m27.703s benchmark was swiftly beaten by a 1m25.710s from MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor, which would prove far more difficult to improve upon.

Six drivers had laptimes next to their name after 20 minutes, after which Campos’s Pepe Marti went second fastest with a 1m26.711s.

Red flags waved 24 minutes in as Trident’s Max Esterson, who was fourth, went off at turn five. Hitech GP’s drivers went on their first run four minutes in, and 10 drivers had recorded laptimes after three quarters of an hour.

Lindblad set a 1m26.839s to rise to third shortly after, and Hitech GP’s Dino Beganovic set two successive improvements to move into fifth.

Verschoor’s advantage at the top was trimmed 66 minutes in, as Marti got within 0.923 seconds of his pace then the Hitech pair both beat him. Luke Browning set a 1m26.307s, and Beganovic was 0.479s off Verschoor’s best.

Mansell demoted Marti another spot by setting a 1m36.512s, followed by Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli slotting into third with a 1m26.281s.

The run of improvements were stopped by red flags caused by Beganovic getting into trouble at turn five, and at the halfway point of the three-hour session there were still three drivers yet to go on flying laps. Jak Crawford was the last to do so, with 72 minutes to go, and at the start of the final hour he went ninth fastest behind Trident’s Sami Meguetounif, Mansell and DAMS team-mate Kush Maini.

Prema put hard compound tyres on its cars with three quarters of an hour left on the clock and Mini got within 0.277s of Verschoor while Sebastian Montoyta set a 1m26.224s to climb to fourth. A few minutes later Marti headed out on softs and he smashed Verschoor’s benchmark, setting a 1m24.764s.

ART Grand Prix was another team using hard tyres at the time, and Victor Martins went 1.121s slower than Marti in third.

Mansell and Martins’ team-mate Ritomo Miyata went fifth and sixth fastest with 30 minutes remaining, then Lindblad lowered the pace by 0.349s on soft tyres as Montoya improved to fifth.

Browning set a 1m25.125s to get into third before Meguetounif caused red flags with a problem at the opening corners, and there was a flurry of improvements with three minutes to go. Mini lapped just 0.088s slower than Lindblad, Fornaroli and Montoya both beat Marti, and joining them in the 1m24s were Rodin’s Alex Dunne and Mansell.

Invicta’s Roman Stanek set two personal bests to sit ninth, the last driver within a second of Lindblad.

Meguetounif caused another red flag stoppage just before the end, at which point the order was settled.

Afternoon session results