UNI-Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich was the only driver to break the 1m 28s barrier in the second Formula 2 test of the season at Barcelona, setting the time in the morning to cap off a fine three-day stint in Spain for the Brazilian.
The 20-year-old finished 0.190s ahead of Round 1 winner Oscar Piastri with PREMA Racing, while ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard ran third.
MORNING
The final morning in Barcelona wasn’t quite as bright as the second day, with dark clouds hanging over the circuit, and even a spot of rain towards the end of the first session.
The field all headed out at the earliest opportunity and got a feel for the tarmac, before switching to their final set of medium Pirellis around the hour mark.
There was a brief stoppage as HWA RACELAB’s Alessio Deledda spun at the first turn and brought out a red flag, but action soon resumed, with Drugovich taking control. The Virtuosi racer broke the 1m 28s barrier for the first time in Barcelona, lapping at 1:27.945 once he had made the switch to mediums.
Lundgaard and MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendeli were the next to follow suit, undertaking a qualifying simulation of their own, but neither could quite nail all three sectors. Lundgaard lost out in the first and Zendeli in the third, putting them P2 and P4.
PREMA sent Piastri out on fresh mediums and the Australian driver delivered the second fastest time of the morning to push Lundgaard down to P3, lapping just 0.190s off Drugovich. Hitech also sent their Red Bull junior pairing, Liam Lawson and Jüri Vips, out there on the same tyres, with the duo nestling into fourth and fifth.
Lundgaard’s ART teammate Théo Pourchaire impressed with the sixth quickest tour of the morning, only five tenths off the leading pace. Robert Shwartzman took seventh in the second PREMA, ahead of Bent Viscaal and Zendeli, who had fallen to P9.
The second Virtuosi completed the top 10, with Guanyu Zhou running ninth, 0.810s off his teammate. There was a slightly premature end to the session, as Carlin Racing’s Jehan Daruvala came to a halt at Turn 11 in the final minute.
AFTERNOON
The sun returned for the final afternoon of the Barcelona test, just in time for a series of long-runs, with HWA RACELAB duo Matteo Nannini and Deledda setting the benchmark times, leading the charts with 1:30.346 and 1:32.183.
There was a brief stoppage in the opening hour as Lawson tagged the wall at Turn 5. The Kiwi did manage to get back out there, but then came to a halt between Turns 8 and 9 with 15 minutes to go. Despite the stoppages, the Hitech racer still managed to set the ninth fastest time of the final stint.
There was also a third Red Flag of the afternoon for Verschoor, who stopped at the start of Turn 7.
When action resumed, Trident pairing Viscaal and Marino Sato started to climb the leaderboard, firing into third and fourth, before improving to second and third, pushing Deledda down to P4.
Viscaal continued to improve and leapfrogged Nannini in the final hour, with a tour of 1:30.280.
DAMS duo Marcus Armstrong and Roy Nissany slid into fifth and seventh, either side of Zendeli. Shwartzman was behind them in eighth, with the Russian’s PREMA teammate, Piastri, two places further back in 10th.
Drugovich will aim to carry his form over into the second round of the season at Monaco, which takes place in just under a month, 20-22 May.
MORNING SESSION
1 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:27.945 21
2 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:28.105 23
3 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:28.285 43
4 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:28.422 39
5 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:28.433 25
6 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:28.484 44
7 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:28.491 31
8 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:28.736 38
9 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:28.737 35
10 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:28.755 24
11 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:28.906 33
12 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:28.972 35
13 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:28.973 29
14 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:28.992 21
15 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:28.993 36
16 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:29.032 35
17 Marino Sato Trident 1:29.182 51
18 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:29.678 31
19 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:29.744 38
20 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:30.166 36
21 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:32.096 37
22 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB - - 6
AFTERNOON SESSION
1 Bent Viscaal Trident 1:30.280 30
2 Matteo Nannini HWA RACELAB 1:30.346 59
3 Marino Sato Trident 1:30.943 22
4 Alessio Deledda HWA RACELAB 1:32.183 55
5 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:33.199 44
6 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:33.271 47
7 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:33.529 55
8 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:33.572 50
9 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:33.782 24
10 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:33.816 57
11 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:34.308 49
12 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:34.502 57
13 Gianluca Petecof Campos Racing 1:34.515 43
14 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1:34.540 37
15 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:34.693 43
16 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:34.709 45
17 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:34.883 45
18 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:35.075 44
19 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:35.088 54
20 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:35.106 50
21 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:35.120 44
22 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:35.310 60