Final pre-season test gets underway at the Sakhir circuit
MEDIABALAP.com – The second FIA Formula 2 Championship pre-season test will begin tomorrow at Sakhir, Bahrain ahead of the 2018 season opener there in two weeks’ time. A three-day session, this will be the last running that the teams and drivers will get prior to the first F2 race of the new year.
British ace Lando Norris completed the opening test at Le Castellet, France with the best lap across the week, setting a 1:42.226 on the morning of the second day to beat Carlin team-mate Sergio Sette Camara to the top of the timesheets. Norris had ended the previous day quickest overall, setting the fastest times of both morning and afternoon sessions.
DAMS’ Alexander Albon secured the best time of the second day’s afternoon running, but found Norris’ benchmark from before the break in activity insurmountable. The Thai driver was also quickest in the afternoon of Day 3, but this time was denied the fastest time by ART Grand Prix rookie George Russell, who opened the morning session with the best time of the day.
There is one driver change; Nicholas Latifi will return to action for DAMS having missed the opening test. Oliver Rowland and Dan Ticktum shared testing duties in his place at Le Castellet.
Pirelli have made the medium and the soft compound tyres available for the test at Bahrain, with drivers receiving six sets of the harder tyre and two sets of the soft to use over the three days.
The tests in Bahrain will open at 9am each day, breaking at 12pm before running continues from 2pm-5pm.
Entry List
RUSSIAN TIME
1. Artem Markelov
2. Tadasuke Makino
PERTAMINA PREMA Theodore Racing
3. Sean Gelael
4. Nyck De Vries
DAMS
5. Alexander Albon
6. Nicholas Latifi
ART Grand Prix
7. Jack Aitken
8. George Russell
MP Motorsport
9. Roberto Merhi
10. Ralph Boschung
BWT Arden
11. Maximilian Günther
12. Nirei Fukuzumi
Campos Vexatec Racing
14. Luca Ghiotto
15. Roy Nissany
Trident
16. Arjun Maini
17. Santino Ferrucci
Carlin
18. Sergio Sette Camara
19. Lando Norris
Charouz Racing System
20. Louis Delétraz
21. Antonio Fuoco
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