DAMS’ Marcus Armstrong ended the three-day Bahrain F2 test on top from Hitech GP’s Liam Lawson, as WEC reveals 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours entry list.
It was again a divide for F2 teams and drivers, where they focused the morning session on qualifying runs, while the afternoon was more or less devoted on race runs, which is why DAMS’ Armstrong’s time of 1m42.173s from morning remained the fastest of the day.
The Kiwi ended the three-day F2 test on top from Hitech GP’s Lawson (1m42.218s) and his teammate Juri Vips (1m42.224s) as UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou slotted in fourth, whereas MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendeli rounded out the Top 5 positions.
The times were close still with half a second covering the Top 14 – in fact no one improved on their time in the afternoon session. Behind Zendeli was Prema’s Robert Shwartzman in sixth, with Campos Racing’s Ralph Bosching ending up seventh.
The Top 10 was rounded out by MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor – whose future as a F2 driver is still to be confirmed – in eighth, Prema’s Oscar Piastri ninth and UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Felipe Drugovich 10th, as Charouz’s David Beckmann missed out in 11th.
Here’s F2 timings from AM session:
| DRIVER | TEAM | LAPTIME | LAPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | 1:42.173 | 22 |
| 2 | Liam Lawson | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:42.218 | 13 |
| 3 | Jüri Vips | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:42.224 | 36 |
| 4 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:42.246 | 47 |
| 5 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | 1:42.356 | 22 |
| 6 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:42.359 | 20 |
| 7 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1:42.427 | 23 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:42.522 | 24 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA Racing | 1:42.527 | 22 |
| 10 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:42.570 | 45 |
| 11 | David Beckmann | Charouz Racing System | 1:42.587 | 48 |
| 12 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 1:42.590 | 25 |
| 13 | Théo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.595 | 40 |
| 14 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:42.674 | 40 |
| 15 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | 1:42.815 | 34 |
| 16 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:42.920 | 43 |
| 17 | Matteo Nannini | HWA RACELAB | 1:43.159 | 31 |
| 18 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos Racing | 1:43.219 | 24 |
| 19 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz Racing System | 1:43.283 | 47 |
| 20 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 1:43.496 | 24 |
| 21 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 1:43.585 | 24 |
| 22 | Alessio Deledda | HWA RACELAB | 1:45.076 | 36 |
Here’s F2 timings from PM session:
| DRIVER | TEAM | LAPTIME | LAPS | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1:44.905 | 59 |
| 2 | Gianluca Petecof | Campos Racing | 1:45.537 | 55 |
| 3 | Roy Nissany | DAMS | 1:46.104 | 60 |
| 4 | Robert Shwartzman | PREMA Racing | 1:47.146 | 53 |
| 5 | Lirim Zendeli | MP Motorsport | 1:47.307 | 60 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | PREMA Racing | 1:47.326 | 53 |
| 7 | Liam Lawson | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:47.409 | 39 |
| 8 | Théo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.426 | 42 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1:47.598 | 57 |
| 10 | Guilherme Samaia | Charouz Racing System | 1:47.698 | 43 |
| 11 | Marcus Armstrong | DAMS | 1:47.891 | 61 |
| 12 | Matteo Nannini | HWA RACELAB | 1:47.893 | 39 |
| 13 | Dan Ticktum | Carlin | 1:47.965 | 64 |
| 14 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | 1:48.128 | 61 |
| 15 | Jüri Vips | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:48.332 | 39 |
| 16 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:48.446 | 50 |
| 17 | Alessio Deledda | HWA RACELAB | 1:48.456 | 36 |
| 18 | Christian Lundgaard | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.487 | 41 |
| 19 | Felipe Drugovich | UNI-Virtuosi | 1:48.613 | 43 |
| 20 | Bent Viscaal | Trident | 1:48.630 | 41 |
| 21 | Marino Sato | Trident | 1:48.926 | 41 |
| 22 | David Beckmann | Charouz Racing System | 1:50.048 | 33 |
https://twitter.com/FIA_F2/status/1369663987810508800?s=20
Here’s how Day 2 of Bahrain F2 test panned out
In other news, WEC unveiled a 62-car entry list for 2021 Le Mans 24 Hours, which will have five Hypercar entries along with 25 LMP2 prototypes, seven LMGTE Pro and 24 LMGTE Am. The 62nd entry is for an ‘Innovation Car’, which will run as a solo category.
The lead Hypercar class features two Toyota and Glickenhaus each, with one Alpine. The LMP2 category, meanwhile, has 11 Pro/Am cars, with 21 Oreca machines, two Aurus and two Ligier. It features 14 non-WEC cars, who are a mix of ELMS and ALMS.
Over in the GT classes, the GTE Pro sees only seven cars where three are Porsche, two each from Ferrari and Corvette. At the same time, the GTE Am class has 24 cars, where there are 12 Ferrari, eight Porsche and four Aston Martin Vantage.
Pierre Fillon, President of the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, said: “This year, the 24 Hours of Le Mans enters a new era. The introduction of Hypercars promises to bring even more spine-tingling action to the endurance racetrack. Sixty-two cars will line up for this 89th 24 Hours of Le Mans. In these challenging times, this number is a strong signal that our discipline is more appealing than ever before. We are eager to welcome fans once again to the racetrack to experience this historic edition together.”
Here’s the full entry list so far: https://assets.lemans.org/explorer/pdf/courses/2021/24-heures-du-mans/entry-list-24-heures-du-mans-2021.pdf
Here’s WEC calendar changes