Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney moves to the top in F2 test

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney fastest in Formula 2’s Monday afternoon session in its pre-season test at Bahrain.

DAMS’ Juan Manuel Correa was first to top the times, but Virtuosi Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto was first to lap at a representative pace as he set a 1m49.143s nine minutes into the two-and-a-half hour session.

Next to the top was Correa’s team-mate Jak Crawford, who set a 1m46.053s, with Bortoleto and Correa improving to 1m46.382s and 1m46.313s respectively.

Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar set a 1m45.708s to knock Crawford off top spot 13 minutes in, but his time on top was short-lived as Maloney set a 1m44.919s and Crawford improved to 1m45.681s.

Dennis Hauger squeezed between them two minutes later, setting a 1m45.120s, then a flurry of improvements led to his MP Motorsport team-mate Franco Colapinto rising to third with a 1m45.273s, Prema’s Ollie Bearman going fourth with a 1m45.596s and Hadjar and Crawford being knocked down to fifth and sixth despite both improving.

Virtuosi Racing’s Kush Maini set his first lap 17 minutes in, just as Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata went fourth fastest, and two minutes after that Hauger set a new 1m44.778s benchmark.

Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti recorded a 1m45.0543s to sit in third for two minutes before Colapinto improved to 1m45.043s, and red flags waved just as the session approached the 27-minute mark after Trident’s Roman Stanek struck trouble.

Hadjar lowered the pace to 1m44.548s once testing restarted, but moments later Crawford set a 1m44.470s. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi was next to lead the way with a 1m44.192s and then a 1m44.135s.

He was not threatened until the end of the first hour, when Hauger improved twice to 1m44.250s.

Maloney then went fastest with a 1m44.109s, and after 70 minutes ART Grand Prix’s drivers were 19th and 20th and only ahead of Stanek and Prema’s absent Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Hadjar returned to the top by 1.491 seconds with a 1m42.618s lap set 81 minutes in, and Antonelli finally left the pits.

Fittipaldi reduced Hadjar’s pace advantage to 0.83s after an hour-and-a-half of running, then Aron was next to rival him with a 1m43.141s. But the pacesetter then improved to 1m41.921s with 48 minutes left on the clock.

Improving at the same time was Hitech GP’s Amaury Cordeel, who went third fastest with a 1m43.388s. A few minutes later Trident’s Richard Verschoor broke into the 1m42s, then Maini set a 1m42.576s to get even closer to Hadjar.

ART GP duo Victor Martins and Zak O’Sullivan bounced up from the bottom of the timesheet to third and fourth before the track became quiet again.

Rodin duo Maloney and Miyata headed back out with 40 minutes to go, and Maloney went second fastest with a 1m42.182s as Miyata improved to seventh.

Hadjar was finally challenged with 31 minutes left of the session, as Crawford got within 0.024s of his pace. Hauger meanwhile improved to 1m42.564s in fourth, then with 27 minutes to go Fittipaldi went top with a 1m41.830s.

Bortoleto set a 1m42.149s to return to join the top four a few minutes later, but fourth went to Maini with 13 minutes left as he was next to break the 1m42s barrier. Rodin’s drivers were on another run and Maloney soon set the day’s fastest lap: a 1m41.501s.

Crawford got within 0.125s of him with six minutes to go, and Fittipaldi returned to third with a 1m41.735 three minutes later before red flags waved due to an on-track issue for O’Sullivan and the session ended early.

Afternoon session results