Manama, Feb. 15 (BNA): Richard Verschauer and Gregoire Souci decided the pace today on the second day of pre-season testing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and the FIA Formula 3 Championship at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.
The ‘Home of Motorsport in the Middle East’ was once again the setting for another full day of track running, featuring future Formula 1 stars.
Verschoor of Van Amersfoort Racing was the fastest man among the 22 F2 entrants, while Saucy of ART Grand Prix had the best overall time for the second consecutive day in the 30-car F3 test.
Combined testing for both series concludes Thursday at BIC. The final day will again see F3 on track first from 9am to 11:30am, then again in the afternoon from 2.30pm to 5pm. The F2 competitors will hit the grandstand from 11.45am to 2.15pm and then again from 5.15pm to 7.45pm.
The F2 and F3 superstars will return to the Bahrain International Circuit in about two weeks for the start of their 2023 seasons, in support of this year’s Gulf Air Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix from March 3-5 in Sakhir.
Pre-season testing this week is the only time they’ve sampled their cars on track ahead of their new drives.
In today’s F2 testing, Verschoor shone brightest under BIC’s cutting-edge floodlights and recorded the day’s best testing time of 1 minute, 42.140 seconds during his evening run.
It was a tight battle for pole position in the combined Formula 2 timetable as Verschur held off Victor Martins of the Grand Prix de Beaux Arts by just eight thousandths of a second, with Martins setting his best of 1:42.148.
Only five-tenths of a second separated the first eight times, all of which came in the faster evening session. MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hüger was classified third with a fastest lap of 1:42.378 while DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc was fourth with a time of 1:42.437 and Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung was fifth with a time of 1:42.489.
Jack Doohan (1:42.523) of Virtuosi Racing, Ayumu Iwasa (1:42.617) of DAMS and Oliver Bearman (1:42.640) of PREMA Racing rounded out the top eight.
In the morning test, Frederik Vesti of PREMA Racing was fastest in F2 with a time of 1:44.234. Boschung was second with a time of 1:46.181, while Leclerc completed the top three with a time of 1:46.516.
In F3, Saucy set the fastest lap of the day during the morning session. Saucy posted a best time of 1:46.642, half a second faster than PREMA’s Dino Beganovic, whose top mark was 1:47.121.
Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Gabriele Mini was classified third on the morning timetable with a lap of 1:47.166, while Trident’s Gabriele Bortoleto was fourth in 1:47.197 and MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto fifth in 1:47.266.
Nikola Tzulov (1:47.287) of ART Grand Prix Racing and Luke Browning (1:47.339) of Hitech Pulse-Eight finished sixth and seventh, while Kaylen Frederick (1:47.359) ensured that all three ART Grand Prix cars were in the top eight. , which was also the fastest time of the day.
In the afternoon session, the Mini led the F3 field with a best lap time of 1:48.175 in rival Hitech. Saucy followed with a time of 1:48.211 while Mini’s Hitech teammate Sebastian Montoya was classified third in 1:48.274.
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