Practice-
Trident’s Rafael Camara picked up where he left off in Melbourne to set the pace in the opening session in Sakhir, his 1:50.984 the fastest time of Free Practice.
The Brazilian driver eclipsed Nikola Tsolov’s early benchmark time by 0.127s to end up fastest ahead of his Campos Racing rival, while ART Grand Prix rookie Tuukka Taponen rounded out the top three.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s Ivan Domingues had the track to himself early on as the rest of the field waited in the pit lane. He set a 1:52.776 to complete the first push lap of the session.
Action started to ramp up with 15 minutes to go as one by one all 30 cars started to head back out onto the circuit.
After the first set of push laps, it was Tsolov that set the pace with a 1:51.111, with Rodin Motorsport rookie Roman Bilinski 0.312s behind in P2.
However, Tsolov was down to second as Camara went top on a 1:50.984, putting the Brazilian 0.127s clear in front.
Fellow rookie Taponen went third for ART, over two-tenths back from the leading time, as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Santiago Ramos jumped up to fourth.
The drivers continued to set their best times up until the chequered flag as MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti ended up in P5 ahead of Charlie Wurz and Bilinski.
Qualifying-
Rafael Camara was the one to beat once again, as the Trident driver took his second consecutive pole position of the season, beating out Callum Voisin in an action packed Sakhir Qualifying.
A closely fought encounter between the pair, the Brazilian’s late 1:49.214 was enough for P1, while the Rodin Motorsport driver ended up 0.156s down in second, with Trident’s Charlie Wurz in third.
It was Nikola Tsolov that set the early benchmark though of 1:50.506, putting the Campos Racing driver 0.169s clear of DAMS Lucas Oil’s Christian Ho, with James Wharton just behind in P3.
The entire field was back in the pit lane with 18 minutes left in the session, but after a quick change of tyres, they were out on track for the second set of push laps on their new rubber.
There were plenty of improvements and on this occasion, it was Voisin on provisional pole, thanks to a 1:49.882, putting him just 0.023s ahead of MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti.
Camara went to third ahead of Tsolov this time around, before the drivers returned to the pit lane to put on another new set of tyres.
Setting his lap earlier than the rest of the field, Camara went to P1 with a 1:49.214. Voisin set the fastest first sector but could not overhaul the Trident driver and ended up second, 0.156s down.
The full top 10 are- Pole: Camara, P2: Voisin, P3: Wurz, P4: Ho, P5: del Pino, P6: Taponen, P7: Stromsted, P8: Tsolov, P9: Giusti and P10: Slater.
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