Monras quickest in opening practice session

Miki Monras

Miki Monras mastered the wet conditions during today's (Friday) opening FIA Formula Two free practice session in Barcelona to top the timesheets ahead of Mirko Bortolotti and Jack Clarke.

The 19-year-old Spaniard continued his strong form from yesterday's test session to lead the way with a best time of 2:02.568s – 0.596s ahead of the Italian champion.

Persistent rain meant the drivers were faced with a wet track exiting the pitlane as the session got underway, with Mikkel Mac setting the early pace lapping in the 2min 05s.

Monras then soon went top followed by Bortolotti before the session's first red flag came out at the halfway stage after Russian Max Snegirev went off at Turn 2.

The green flags were waved with around 15 minutes remaining on the clock as the rain continued to fall. Monras continued to set the pace from Bortolotti, Benjamin Lariche and Mac with Kelvin Snoeks also looking quick around the 4.655km circuit.

Bortolotti then briefly edged out Monras with five minutes to go but the Spaniard quickly responded to reclaim the honors with Brit Clarke in third and Mac securing P4.

Snoeks rounded out the top five with Tobias Hegewald in sixth and Frenchman Lariche in seventh. Swiss racer Christopher Zanella, fighting for the runner-up spot this weekend, was eighth quickest ahead of James Cole and Mihai Marinescu.

Today's second free practice session at Barcelona gets underway at 15:30 (local time) with full coverage on the official F2 website.

Barcelona, free practice one top-10 results:

1. Miki Monras, 2:02.568s
2. Mirko Bortolotti, +0.596s
3. Jack Clarke, +1.306s
4. Mikkel Mac, +1.337s
5. Kelvin Snoeks, +1.569s
6. Tobias Hegewald, +1.605s
7. Benjamin Lariche, +1.660s
8. Christopher Zanella, +2.329s
9. James Cole, +2.347s
10. Mihai Marinescu, +2.608s