De Vries ends F2 pre-season testing on top

Nyck de Vries

Nyck de Vries has once again topped the timesheets in the final day of the FIA Formula 2 pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona. The ART Grand Prix driver set a laptime of 1:27.024 in the morning session to head Luca Ghiotto and Louis Deletraz. In the afternoon, Juan Manuel Correa was quickest.

Day 3 of testing opened in sunny conditions. Nicholas Latifi was the first driver to hit the track whilst de Vries set the early pace ahead of Ghiotto. The Dutchman improved further to set a time of 1:27.576 in the first half hour of the running. Carlin’s drivers Deletraz and Nobuharu Matsushita also broke the 1m28s barrier to move up to second and third respectively.

The drivers switched from Medium to Soft tires and Ghiotto went top in a 1:27.263 whilst teammate Guanyu Zhou moved up to second (+0.191s). De Vries also found some extra pace to clock in a blazing laptime of 1:27.024 as Deletraz went third quickest behind Ghiotto.

Just before the midway point, the man of the day de Vries spun and stopped at Turn 2 bringing out a red flag. The remainder of the session was dedicated to race simulations and pit stop practices. At the checkered flag the top 3 remained unchanged. Zhou, Matsushita, Nikita Mazepin, Jack Aitken, Sergio Sette Camara, Sean Gelael and Ralph Boschung rounded up the top 10.

After a one-hour break, the pit lane re-opened. Deletraz was the first man back on track ten minutes later. Soon after that Roberto Merhi signed the quickest laptime to sit pretty at the top of the timesheets ahead of Tatiana Calderon and Boschung.

It was a studious afternoon for the teams and the drivers who once again focused on long runs. Twenty minutes before the checkered flag, Correa went fastest by three tenths over Merhi. Calderon ended third ahead of Boschung, Richard Verschoor (who replaced Jordan King at MP Motorsport today), Sette Camara, Matsushita, Gelael, Aitken and Latifi.

This concluded the pre-season testing for the FIA Formula 2 Championship. It’s time for the teams to pack up and get ready for the first Round of the 2019 season which will kick off at the Bahrain International circuit on March 29-31.

FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 3 Morning Session

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	LAPS
1	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1:27.024	24
2	Luca Ghiotto	UNI Virtuosi	1:27.263	29
3	Louis Deletraz	Carlin	1:27.421	23
4	Guanyu Zhou	UNI Virtuosi	1:27.454	30
5	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin	1:27.585	30
6	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1:27.731	38
7	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1:27.817	23
8	Sergio Sette Camara	DAMS	1:27.821	29
9	Sean Gelael	PREMA Racing	1:27.959	38
10	Ralph Boschung	Trident	1:27.960	43
11	Mick Schumacher	PREMA Racing	1:28.022	51
12	Callum Ilott	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:28.022	49
13	Roberto Merhi	Campos Racing	1:28.209	27
14	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:28.424	26
15	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1:28.463	39
16	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1:28.782	52
17	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden	1:28.856	31
18	Richard Verchoor	MP Motorsport	1:28.892	36
19	Mahaveer Raghunathan	MP Motorsport	1:29.955	26
20	Tatiana Calderon	BWT Arden	1:30.503	19

FIA Formula 2 Barcelona Test – Day 3 Afternoon Session

POS	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	LAPS
1	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:30.095	49
2	Roberto Merhi	Campos Racing	1:30.441	43
3	Tatiana Calderon	BWT Arden	1:30.508	57
4	Ralph Boschung	Trident	1:32.768	49
5	Richard Verchoor	MP Motorsport	1:33.039	44
6	Sergio Sette Camara	DAMS	1:34.374	46
7	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin	1:34.403	57
8	Sean Gelael	PREMA Racing	1:34.433	54
9	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1:34.551	47
10	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1:34.687	64
11	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1:34.712	58
12	Louis Deletraz	Carlin	1:34.784	52
13	Guanyu Zhou	UNI Virtuosi	1:34.817	44
14	Luca Ghiotto	UNI Virtuosi	1:35.048	56
15	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1:35.050	58
16	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1:35.083	47
17	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden	1:35.238	59
18	Mahaveer Raghunathan	MP Motorsport	1:35.554	33
19	Mick Schumacher	PREMA Racing	1:35.879	63
20	Callum Ilott	Sauber Junior Team by Charouz	1:36.055	39