Home Featured Vips ahead in shortened final F2 session at Barcelona

Vips ahead in shortened final F2 session at Barcelona

by Alejandro Alonso Lopez

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

An early run from Juri Vips put the Estonian on top in the shortened final session of Formula 2’s in-season Barcelona test, as the field focused on long runs.

The last afternoon session was shortened from three hours to two-and-a-half as the start suffered a 30-minute delay due to track maintenance. Then, two lengthy red flags periods resulted in just over one hour-and-a-half of track time available.

Red Bull junior Vips’ short run at the beginning of the session put him on top of the times with a 1m29.288s, a lap that would go unbeaten but was slower than Felipe Drugovich’s 1m27.529s benchmark set in the morning.

A fuel pump issue on Frederik Vesti’s car, which resulted in the Dane stopping in the last sector, brought the first red flag out. ART Grand Prix was able to repair the car on time, and he was able to return to track in the final 15 minutes.

There was only a small window for him to set laps, as Dennis Hauger caused the second red flag of the afternoon. The engine of his Prema car gave up on the run down to turn five, forcing him to park at one side of the track. The session resumed after half an hour, with 15 minutes to go, after the marshals had cleared all the fluids left on track by Hauger’s car.

The session was red-flagged again with three minutes to go due to Vips, and cars returned to the pitlane in order to prepare for a standing start practice from the grid. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes stalled on his attempted practice start.

Afternoon session
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Juri Vips Hitech GP 1m27.529s
2 Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 1m30.802s +1.514s
3 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System 1m31.541s +2.253s
4 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1m31.633s +2.345s
5 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 1m31.801s +2.513s
6 Marino Sato Virtuosi 1m32.037s +2.749s
7 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1m32.634s +3.346s
8 Clement Novalak MP Motorsport 1m32.801s +3.513s
9 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1m33.240s +3.952s
10 Marcus Armstrong Hitech GP 1m34.275s +4.987s
11 Jack Doohan Virtuosi 1m34.449s +5.161s
12 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1m34.481s +5.193s
13 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1m34.626s +5.338s
14 Jehan Daruvala Prema 1m34.637s +5.349s
15 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1m34.692s +5.404s
16 Olli Caldwell Campos Racing 1m35.026s +5.738s
17 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1m35.090s +5.802s
18 Liam Lawson Carlin 1m35.301s +6.013s
19 Roy Nissany DAMS 1m35.316s +6.028s
20 Calan Williams Trident 1m35.449s +6.161s
21 Richard Verschoor Trident 1m35.577s +6.289s
21 Dennis Hauger Prema 1m36.186s +6.898s