Ticktum tops Monza Formula 2 practice, DAMS hits trouble

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Carlin’s Dan Ticktum took the top spot in Formula 2’s sole practice session of the weekend at Monza, while both DAMS entries hit mechanical trouble.

The fastest laptimes in the 45-minute session occurred towards the middle of the allotted time, and Ticktum’s 1m33.042s benchmark was unable to be beaten by the opposition.

Tyre wear increased as the session progressed with the unusually late start time of practice, and drivers largely failed to improve of their laptimes.

There was a virtual safety car period with 11 minutes to go after DAMS’ Roy Nissany had a spectacular engine failure down the back straight. Green flag running resumed with six minutes to go, but only a couple of drivers improved.

The woes started earlier on for DAMS, who lost victory in last year’s sprint race to a fauly spec fuel cell, as Nissany’s team-mate Marcus Armstrong completed just four laps and stopped in the pits after being called to the weighbridge.

Closest to Ticktum’s pace was ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire, two tenths behind the Carlin driver. Ticktum’s team-mate Jehan Daruvala was fractions behind Pourchaire in third.

Campos’s new signing David Beckmann was fourth fastest and one of four drivers to complete 21 laps – the most of anyone – in the session. F2 debutant Enzo Fittipaldi was 20th fastest for Charouz Racing System, only ahead of HWA Racelab’s Alessio Deledda (who was seen getting in the way of other cars) and Armstrong.

On his F2 return, Jake Hughes was 16th as a stand-in driver at HWA.

Championship leader Oscar Piastri was fifth fastest, while his Alpine Academy stablemate Guanyu Zhou could only manage 13th despite a late improvement and was just ahead of Virtuosi Racing team-mate Felipe Drugovich.

Piastri’s Prema team-mate Robert Shwartzman only completed 14 laps and ended the session in a lowly 18th.

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