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De Vries fastest on Day 1 in Bahrain, Louis Delétraz 2nd

Nyck de Vries opened the second FIA Formula 2 Championship pre-season test at Sakhir, Bahrain with the fastest time, as the PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing driver set a 1:43.785 to head the first day’s timing boards ahead of Charouz Racing System’s Louis Delétraz and Campos Vexatec Racing driver Luca Ghiotto.

 
The morning session began in warm conditions – rising as high as 27 degrees Celsius – and the field was led onto the circuit by MP Motorsport’s Roberto Merhi, with Jack Aitken (ART Grand Prix) and Santino Ferrucci (Trident) just behind as the circuit went live. The teams spent the first hour logging installation laps, until Ghiotto set the first flying lap in the 1m44s boundary.
 
The Italian then bested his time by 0.7 seconds after the halfway point of the session, putting him out of reach from countryman Antonio Fuoco (Charouz), which remained the benchmark throughout the remainder of the morning having been set on medium compound tyres.
 
The second half of the session was considerably more stop-start than the first, a red flag for Alexander Albon’s stranded DAMS car at turn 13 preceded another stoppage for Trident’s Arjun Maini who stopped on the start/finish straight with half an hour remaining on the clock.
 
Nicholas Latifi (DAMS) brought a final stoppage ten minutes before the end, leaving Ghiotto’s time unchallenged at the close of the session. Fuoco beat teammate Delétraz to second, as Maximilian Günther (BWT Arden) grabbed fourth ahead of RUSSIAN TIME’s Artem Markelov. Arden’s Nirei Fukuzumi was sixth, as Albon and Maini were seventh and eighth respectively. De Vries and Roy Nissany (Campos) were ninth and tenth.
 
An even warmer afternoon greeted the competitors with temperatures approaching 30°c. ART, having gone without setting any flying laps in the morning, took to the circuit first with Aitken, as Maini and George Russell – also of ART – joined him on track in the early stages.
 
Markelov brought out the only red flag of the afternoon, coming to a halt at Turn 8 before managing to get going again. Merhi topped the timesheets after the opening runs, but the first hour ended with Albon having taken the advantage ahead of Fuoco by under a tenth of a second. Delétraz then took the advantage, beating the morning’s best time to go quickest overall with the first sub-1m44s lap of the test.
 
There was little change at the top for a long period of time, save for Fuoco’s return to second, but a flurry of activity in the final hour brought Maini and the Carlins of Lando Norris and Sergio Sette Camara towards the top.
 
Delétraz’s time looked to be unassailable, before De Vries beat the Swiss driver’s time by two tenths to go quickest overall in the final ten minutes of running. Norris claimed third ahead of Maini, as Fuoco hung onto fifth from Ralph Boschung (MP Motorsport). Ghiotto edged Günther and Sette Camara for seventh, as Aitken completed the top 10.
 
Tomorrow’s session will commence from 9am local time until 12pm, before returning at 2pm for the afternoon session, finishing at 5pm.
 
FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 1 Morning Session
 
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1
Luca Ghiotto
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:44.042
28
2
Antonio Fuoco
Charouz Racing System
1:44.435
12
3
Louis Delétraz
Charouz Racing System
1:44.549
17
4
Maximilian Günther
BWT Arden
1:44.603
23
5
Artem Markelov
RUSSIAN TIME
1:44.657
14
6
Nirei Fukuzumi
BWT Arden
1:44.711
25
7
Alexander Albon
DAMS
1:44.868
12
8
Arjun Maini
Trident
1:44.919
14
9
Nyck De Vries
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:44.944
27
10
Roy Nissany
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:45.022
24
11
Lando Norris
Carlin
1:45.087
24
12
Ralph Boschung
MP Motorsport
1:45.214
14
13
Sergio Sette Camara
Carlin
1:45.225
25
14
Tadasuke Makino
RUSSIAN TIME
1:45.369
16
15
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:45.600
18
16
Roberto Merhi
MP Motorsport
1:45.800
16
17
Sean Gelael
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:45.920
26
18
Santino Ferrucci
Trident
1:45.935
21
19
George Russell
ART Grand Prix
2:20.779
29
20
Jack Aitken
ART Grand Prix
2:28.722
27
 
FIA Formula 2 Bahrain Test – Day 1 Afternoon Session
 
Driver
Team
Laptime
Laps
1
Nyck de Vries
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:43.785
21
2
Louis Delétraz
Charouz Racing System
1:43.905
24
3
Lando Norris
Carlin
1;44.051
26
4
Arjun Maini
Trident
1:44.115
27
5
Antonio Fuoco
Charouz Racing System
1:44.202
19
6
Ralph Boschung
MP Motorsport
1:44.327
20
7
Luca Ghiotto
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:44.363
19
8
Maximilian Günther
BWT Arden
1:44.410
30
9
Sergio Sette Camara
Carlin
1:44.444
25
10
Jack Aitken
ART Grand Prix
1:44.448
42
11
George Russell
ART Grand Prix
1:44.505
36
12
Tadasuke Makino
RUSSIAN TIME
1:44.637
23
13
Artem Markelov
RUSSIAN TIME
1:44.644
21
14
Sean Gelael
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
1:44.683
22
15
Roberto Merhi
MP Motorsport
1:44.806
25
16
Santino Ferrucci
Trident
1:44.820
24
17
Nicholas Latifi
DAMS
1:45.893
22
18
Roy Nissany
Campos Vexatec Racing
1:45.923
21
19
Alexander Albon
DAMS
1:46.217
28
20
Nirei Fukuzumi
BWT Arden
1:49.230
28

Press release FIA Formula 2

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