Ghiotto on song in Barcelona

Luca Ghiotto
Luca Ghiotto

Luca Ghiotto signaled his intent to put the setback of Round 2 behind him, coming out on top with a dominant drive in FIA Formula 2 free practice at Barcelona, Spain ahead of DAMS’ Nicholas Latifi and PREMA’s Sean Gelael.

After the green light, Gelael set the initial pace in a1:31.655. PREMA were out on their own in the lead at first, as Mick Schumacher and Gelael interchanged between P1 and P2.

Louis Deletraz soon snapped into action and took his place at the top of the timings, before further ‘musical positions’ occurred. No sooner had the Swissman claimed P1, he was dethroned, firstly by Sergio Sette Camara and then by Gelael. The Indonesian was soon ousted himself, as teammate Schumacher raised the bar to 1:30.361.

The German driver would hold P1 for longer than his predecessors as Juan Manuel Correa ran off track at a corner and twisted into the gravel, bringing out a red flag. The session soon resumed with the Baku podium finisher not sustaining any damage to his car.

Following the restart, Ghiotto and Latifi made a statement of intent to take first and second in the timings by breaking the 1m 30s barrier. Not resting on their laurels, both drivers beat their own times on their way to cementing the positions. There was little movement behind them either, as Gelael, Guanyu Zhou and Sette Camara completed the top five, followed by Jack Aitken, Nobuharu Matsushita, Schumacher, Nyck De Vries and Anthoine Hubert.

The rest of the pack will look to break up the early dominance of Ghiotto and Latifi and close the gap in Qualifying, when they return to The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya at 4.55pm local time.

2019 FIA Formula 2 Round 3 – Free Practice classification

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Luca Ghiotto

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

1:29.462

17

2

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:29.866

15

3

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:29:955

18

4

Guanyu Zhou

UNI-Virtuosi Racing

1:30.008

13

5

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:30.073

18

6

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:30.118

17

7

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:30.228

18

8

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:30.361

20

9

Nyck De Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:30.371

12

10

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:30.402

19

11

Ralph Boschung

Trident

1:30.624

17

12

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:30.682

19

13

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:30.719

19

14

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:30.742

16

15

Dorian Boccolacci

Campos Racing

1:30.935

19

16

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:31.060

7

17

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:31.701

19

18

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:32.362

20

19

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

1:33.402

17

20

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:45.830

3