F2: De Vries dominant in Round 9 opener

Nyck De Vries
Nyck De Vries

Nyck De Vries topped title rival Nicholas Latifi on their return from the summer break, in Free Practice at Spa-Francorchamps. The ART Grand Prix man laid down a marker for Round 9 as he looks to further cement his place at the top of the driver’s standings, with Latifi in 2nd and Louis Deletraz 3rd.

Nobuharu Matsushita led the cars out onto the track, with nearly a full cohort heading onto the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps at the start of the session, in 21 degree heat. When the times started to tumble, Nicholas Latifi went top, with 1:59.892. His excellent early pace was all the more impressive given his exploits in F1 FP1, not half an hour beforehand.

The DAMS driver – along with his teammate Sergio Sette Camara – is sporting a very special tribute this weekend, in remembrance of team owner Jean Paul Driot, who sadly passed away during the last round, in Budapest.

The Canadian’s lead wouldn’t make the halfway mark, as De Vries set about topping his second Free Practice in as many rounds. The Championship leader set two green sectors on his way to a time of 1:59.509, more than 0.3s clear of Latifi in P2.

This was followed by spins from Giuliano Alesi and Mick Schumacher, which forced the latter out of the session early and left him in P7, with more than 10 minutes to go. This brought out a brief Virtual Safety Car.

The order remained unchanged when the VSC period ended, with De Vries leading Latifi, who was ahead of Deletraz, Sette Camara and Jack Aitken. Meanwhile, F2 debutant Marino Sato was lying 19th as he focused on getting laps under his belt and becoming accustomed to his new wheels.

The session was ended early when Ralph Boschung’s Trident came to a halt on track and brought out a red flag, with five minutes to go. Free Practice ended under the red flag and handed De Vries the early bragging rights, after a strong opening session. Latifi remained in second ahead of Deletraz, Sette Camara and Aitken, with Luca Ghiotto, Schumacher, Boschung, Alesi and Matsushita completing the top ten.

The Championship’s top two will go full throttle in Qualifying this afternoon at 455.pm local time, as they search for that extra edge going into the final part of the campaign.

FIA Formula 2 Round 9 – Free Practice provisional classification

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

TIME

LAPS

1

Nyck De Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:59.509

12

2

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:59.892

11

3

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

2:00.008

12

4

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

2:00.258

12

5

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

2:00.460

9

6

Luca Ghiotto

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

2:00.607

11

7

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

2:00.932

9

8

Ralph Boschung

Trident

2:00.980

11

9

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

2:00.987

13

10

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

2:01.027

11

11

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

2:01.301

13

12

Guanyu Zhou

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

2:01.301

11

13

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

2:01.423

13

14

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

2:01.562

14

15

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

2:01.645

12

16

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

2:01.795

13

17

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

2:02.014

7

18

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

2:02.819

15

19

Marino Sato

Campos Racing

2:02.962

12

20

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

2:05.746

12