F2 – RND 5 – Day 1

Practice-

Laurens van Hoepen ended Free Practice on top for Trident, logging a 1:26.776 to narrowly beat DAMS Lucas Oil’s Roman Bilinski.
Rodin Motorsport driver Alexander Dunne wound up just under a tenth of a second shy in third place.

With plenty of data already accumulated around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, it was a subdued start to the session before Nikola Tsolov set the first time to beat on a 1:27.136.

Several drivers including Alexander Dunne, Sebastian Montoya, Kush Maini, Martinius Stenshorne and Nico Varrone got within a tenth of the Bulgarian’s time, but the benchmark fell once again.

Van Hoepen bettered the Campos driver’s time and put in a 1:26.776 to lead as the first driver under the 1:27s.

Dunne improved on his next lap to get within 0.070s of the top time, but Bilinski edged ahead of the Irishman to go second quickest, 0.051s down on van Hoepen.

The Red Flags were waving with 12 minutes to go after a spin for Noel Leon left the Mexican driver beached in the gravel.

Once the Campos was cleared away the session resumed with three minutes remaining but there were no further improvements.

It meant that after van Hoepen, Bilinksi and Dunne in the top three, Rafael Villagomez finish fourth with Stenshorne fifth.

Qualifying-

Rafael Camara made it two Aramco Pole Positions in a row with top spot in Barcelona, leading an Invicta Racing 1-2 in Qualifying.
The Brazilian set a 1:24.810 to lead the pack, with Duerksen second and Alexander Dunne third for Rodin Motorsport.

Dunner went to the top with the early time to beat and a 1:25.528. That was beaten three times over, with Colton Herta taking spot on a 1:25.387 after his FP1 exploits with Cadillac.

Laps by Duerksen and Hitech teammate Ritomo Miyata left the top three separated by 0.056s in the opening eight minutes.

Half the field opted to wait before setting their first attempts, and Nikola Tsolov took top spot next on a 1:25.222.
Kush Maini went within 0.042s of the Bulgarian’s time but Rafael Camara crossed the line and delivered a 1:24.810 to go fourth tenths clear of anybody at the halfway stage.

The final set of laps started with only five minutes left and there were plenty of personal bests coming through.
Rafael Villagomez rocketed up to P2 for Van Amersfoort Racing, and Gabriele Mini followed moments later to displace the Mexican driver in the order.

Dunne whose earlier time was deleted for exceeding track limits, was able to go second fastest and just over two-tenths off Camara, until Duerksen put Invicta 1-2 moment later.

The Red Flag then brought the session to a halt with Miyata spinning off through the gravel and into the barriers on exit of the final corner.
The Japanese driver was out of the car and OK, and once his car was cleared, qualifying resumed with 3:41 on the clock.

Several drivers were in need of an improvement, but nobody could challenge Camara’s time and he claimed his second consecutive pole position ahead of his teammate Duerksen.

Comments

Leave a comment