De Vries leads the way at Barcelona

As he did in Jerez, Nyck de Vries dominates testing in Barcelona
As he did in Jerez, Nyck de Vries dominates testing in Barcelona

Nyck de Vries set the quickest laptime on the opening day of the second FIA Formula 2 pre-season testing at Barcelona. The Dutchman from ART Grand Prix set a time of 1:28.655 in the afternoon session to lead the way ahead of DAMS’ Sergio Sette Camara and rookie Nikita Mazepin.

The pit lane opened at 9.30 local time under grey skies. Both Trident cars hit the track first with Giuliano Alesi leading Ralph Boschung. There was an early red flag a few minutes into the session after MP Motorsport’s Mahaveer Raghunathan stopped on track at Turn 7. The proceedings were halted once more shortly after the re-start so that the marshals could clean the pit lane.

One hour into the session, Raghunathan was the only driver who had set a laptime until his teammate Jordan King found some pace to dip under 1m30s. Carlin’s Louis Deletraz went top in a 1:28.919, heading teammate Nobuharu Matsushita by +0.804s, but de Vries went quickest just before the two-hour mark in a 1:28.821 as Luca Ghiotto slotted in P2 (+0.048s).

At the checkered flag de Vries sat pretty at the top of the standings ahead of Ghiotto and Deletraz. Jack Aitken was fourth ahead of Mazepin, Nicholas Latifi, Matsushita , Alesi, Sette Camara and Guanyu Zhou.

After a two-hour lunch break, the action resumed under blue skies. The ART pair of de Vries and Mazepin were the first to take to the track, but it was Ghiotto who set the early pace in a 1:29.176. The afternoon session was dedicated to race simulations and pit stop practice. Campos’ Roberto Merhi brought out a first red flag on the one-hour mark after he stopped at Turn 2.

At the re-start, Juan Manuel Correa placed his Sauber Junior Team by Charouz car on P2 but de Vries bettered the American’s time by three tenths. On his next effort, the Dutchman was able to go top whilst teammate Mazepin also set a personal best to move up to second.

In the opening of the final hour, Mick Schumacher claimed the top spot in a 1:28.866 and remained unchallenged until fifteen minutes before the end of the session: de Vries reclaimed P1 as Sette Camara moved up to P2 to edge Schumacher. Mazepin also improved to take third in the closing stages.

Five minutes before the checkered flag Raghunathan stopped at Turn 8 bringing out one final Red Flag. The session was not restarted. Behind the top three, Schumacher, Ghiotto, Zhou, Sean Gelael, Boschung, Correa and Aitken completed the top ten.

Day 2 will kick off tomorrow at 9.00 local time.

FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 1 Morning Session

Pos

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Nyck de Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:28.821

18

2

Luca Ghiotto

UNI Virtuosi

1:28.869

16

3

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:28.875

31

4

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:28.928

21

5

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:29.107

17

6

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:29.343

30

7

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:29.413

32

8

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:29.492

23

9

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:29.555

20

10

Guanyu Zhou

UNI Virtuosi

1:29.589

13

11

Ralph Boschung

Trident

1:29.708

26

12

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:29.709

18

13

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:29.743

23

14

Roberto Merhi

Campos Racing

1:29.752

35

15

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:29.796

15

16

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:30.000

16

17

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:30.773

22

18

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

1:34.373

26

19

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

30

20

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

32


FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 1 Afternoon Session

Pos

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPTIME

LAPS

1

Nyck de Vries

ART Grand Prix

1:28.655

37

2

Sergio Sette Camara

DAMS

1:28.772

31

3

Nikita Mazepin

ART Grand Prix

1:28.829

43

4

Mick Schumacher

PREMA Racing

1:28.886

29

5

Luca Ghiotto

UNI Virtuosi

1:28.993

33

6

Guanyu Zhou

UNI Virtuosi

1:29.070

27

7

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:29.180

28

8

Ralph Boschung

Trident

1:29.249

32

9

Juan Manuel Correa

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:29.391

27

10

Jack Aitken

Campos Racing

1:29.459

63

11

Callum Ilott

Sauber Junior Team by Charouz

1:29.776

29

12

Anthoine Hubert

BWT Arden

1:29.848

37

13

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

1:29.952

19

14

Giuliano Alesi

Trident

1:30.169

34

15

Tatiana Calderon

BWT Arden

1:30.185

31

16

Mahaveer Raghunathan

MP Motorsport

1:31.639

27

17

Louis Deletraz

Carlin

1:34.850

43

18

Nobuharu Matsushita

Carlin

1:35.235

34

19

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:35.290

36

20

Roberto Merhi

Campos Racing

1:35.664

23