Ghiotto on song in Barcelona
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 |