De Vries ends F2 pre-season testing on top

Nyck de Vries
Nyck de Vries

Nyck de Vries has once again topped the timesheets in the final day of the FIA Formula 2 pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona. The ART Grand Prix driver set a laptime of 1:27.024 in the morning session to head Luca Ghiotto and Louis Deletraz. In the afternoon, Juan Manuel Correa was quickest.

Day 3 of testing opened in sunny conditions. Nicholas Latifi was the first driver to hit the track whilst de Vries set the early pace ahead of Ghiotto. The Dutchman improved further to set a time of 1:27.576 in the first half hour of the running. Carlin’s drivers Deletraz and Nobuharu Matsushita also broke the 1m28s barrier to move up to second and third respectively.

The drivers switched from Medium to Soft tires and Ghiotto went top in a 1:27.263 whilst teammate Guanyu Zhou moved up to second (+0.191s). De Vries also found some extra pace to clock in a blazing laptime of 1:27.024 as Deletraz went third quickest behind Ghiotto.

Just before the midway point, the man of the day de Vries spun and stopped at Turn 2 bringing out a red flag. The remainder of the session was dedicated to race simulations and pit stop practices. At the checkered flag the top 3 remained unchanged. Zhou, Matsushita, Nikita Mazepin, Jack Aitken, Sergio Sette Camara, Sean Gelael and Ralph Boschung rounded up the top 10.

After a one-hour break, the pit lane re-opened. Deletraz was the first man back on track ten minutes later. Soon after that Roberto Merhi signed the quickest laptime to sit pretty at the top of the timesheets ahead of Tatiana Calderon and Boschung.

It was a studious afternoon for the teams and the drivers who once again focused on long runs. Twenty minutes before the checkered flag, Correa went fastest by three tenths over Merhi. Calderon ended third ahead of Boschung, Richard Verschoor (who replaced Jordan King at MP Motorsport today), Sette Camara, Matsushita, Gelael, Aitken and Latifi.

This concluded the pre-season testing for the FIA Formula 2 Championship. It’s time for the teams to pack up and get ready for the first Round of the 2019 season which will kick off at the Bahrain International circuit on March 29-31.

FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 3 Morning Session

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Nyck de Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:27.024

24

2

Luca Ghiotto

UNI Virtuosi

1:27.263

29

3

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:27.421

23

4

Guanyu Zhou

UNI Virtuosi

1:27.454

30

5

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:27.585

30

6

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:27.731

38

7

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:27.817

23

8

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:27.821

29

9

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:27.959

38

10

Ralph Boschung

Trident

1:27.960

43

11

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:28.022

51

12

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:28.022

49

13

Roberto Merhi

Campos Racing

1:28.209

27

14

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:28.424

26

15

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:28.463

39

16

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:28.782

52

17

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:28.856

31

18

Richard Verchoor

MP Motorsport

1:28.892

36

19

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

1:29.955

26

20

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:30.503

19

FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 3 Afternoon Session

POS

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:30.095

49

2

Roberto Merhi

Campos Racing

1:30.441

43

3

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:30.508

57

4

Ralph Boschung

Trident

1:32.768

49

5

Richard Verchoor

MP Motorsport

1:33.039

44

6

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:34.374

46

7

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:34.403

57

8

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:34.433

54

9

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:34.551

47

10

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:34.687

64

11

Nyck de Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:34.712

58

12

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:34.784

52

13

Guanyu Zhou

UNI Virtuosi

1:34.817

44

14

Luca Ghiotto

UNI Virtuosi

1:35.048

56

15

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:35.050

58

16

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:35.083

47

17

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:35.238

59

18

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

1:35.554

33

19

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:35.879

63

20

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:36.055

39