Van Hoepen fastest in challenging F2 practice session in Barcelona

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Trident’s Laurens Van Hoepen started the Formula 2 weekend in Barcelona strongly by topping a difficult F2 practice session where drivers struggled to get temperature into their tyres.

DAMS’ Roman Bilinski tucked in behind with Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne completing the top three.

Having run pre-season testing at the circuit just a few months prior, drivers waited until 20 minutes had passed before taking to the track.

Campos’ Nikola Tsolov was first to set a representative lap time, a 1m27.136s seeing him 0.005 seconds clear of Dunne.

Drivers began to struggle with grip early on, both Dunne and championship leader Gabriele Mini suffering big snaps of oversteer heading through turn 3 causing them to run wide and lose their lap times.

As the session progressed, it was Van Hoepen who shot to the front with a 1m26.776s, the Dutch driver looking to make up for a torrid weekend in Monaco. Behind him, MP’s Mini could only manage second, 0.261s behind the Trident driver.

Both Rodin drivers improved to second and third, Dunne leading team-mate Martinius Stenshorne, before Van Amersfoort’s Rafael Villagomez split the pair.

Bilinski managed to move into second before the red flags flew for Campos Racing’s Noel Leon. Having opted to remain in the pits for the majority of the session, the Mexican, fresh off of two successive sprint race victories, found the gravel at turn 3.

Prior to the stoppage, ART’s Kush Maini had moved himself into fifth but a track limits violation dropped the Indian down to 12th.

Just two minutes remained on the clock when drivers returned to the track and, with track conditions continuing to prove challenging, no improvements were made by the field.

Villagomez and Stenshorne rounded out the top five ahead of championship leader Mini and Invicta Racing driver Rafael Camara. Colton Herta followed with Tsolov and Sebastian Montoya completing the top 10.

Practice results