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Vips goes fastest as red flags punctuate second morning of F2 test

by Jordan Edwards

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Hitech GP driver Juri Vips was fastest on the first session of day two of Formula 2 pre-season testing at Bahrain, which was interrupted by three red flag periods.

Vips set the pace early with a 1m.47.017s lap, and within the first half-hour the entirety of the grid had completed at least one installation lap.

The Red Bull junior, despite spending 50 minutes in the garage in the middle of the session, had a more productive session after limited running on day one and ended the session with a fastest laptime of 1m46.705s.

Trident’s Richard Verschoor and Charouz Racing System’s Cem Bolukbasi Completed the top three and were the only drivers within a second of Vips’ pace.

Enzo Fittipaldi (Charouz), Jake Hughes (Van Amersfoort Racing), Ralph Boschung (Campos), Calan Williams (Trident) and Logan Sargeant (Carlin) made up the top eight fastest drivers.

Sargeant completed the most laps, 45, and much of the grid opted for longer race runs through the session.

The first red flag stoppage came as the session passed the hour mark, but it didn’t last too long. However a second red flag came 10 minutes later and lasted for 10 minutes.

Verschoor and VAR’s Amaury Cordeel had limited running at this point, but in the last half-hour the pair returned to track before the third and final red flag interruption occurred.

Ayumu Iwasa also had limited running in the second half of the session despite putting in 16 laps early on.

As the session approached its final hour, laptimes did begin to improve despite many focusing on race runs. Hughes jumped to fifth fastest with a 1m48.909s, as Vips moved closer to his end benchmark.

Similarly, Bolukbasi was able to stay in the top three fastest for much of the second half of the session.

Morning results
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Juri Vips Hitech GP 1m46.705s 23
2 Richard Verschoor Trident 1m47.231s +0.526s 22
3 Cem Bolukbasi Charouz Racing System 1m47.688s +0.983s 33
4 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System 1m48.899s +2.194s 41
5 Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 1m48.909s +2.204s 34
6 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1m48.911s +2.206s 32
7 Calan Williams Trident 1m48.940s +2.235s 43
8 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1m49.218s +2.513s 45
9 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1m49.326s +2.621s 40
10 Dennis Hauger Prema 1m49.409s +2.704s 37
11 Liam Lawson Carlin 1m49.438s +2.733s 43
12 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1m49.442s +2.737s 39
13 Marino Sato Virtuosi 1m49.595s +2.890s 31
14 Jehan Daruvala Prema 1m49.758s +3.053s 37
15 Marcus Armstrong Hitech GP 1m49.832s +3.127s 40
16 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1m49.870s +3.165s 39
17 Roy Nissany DAMS 1m49.911s +3.206s 37
18 Jack Doohan Virtuosi 1m50.033s +3.328s 31
19 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing 1m50.035s +3.330s 34
20 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1m50.202s +3.497s 16
21 Clement Novalak MP Motorsport 1m50.214s +3.509s 35
22 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 1m50.531s +3.826s 10