Zane Maloney ended final day of FIA F2 test on top from Jak Crawford and Ritomo Miyata in dry conditions in Bahrain.
Zane Maloney continued to set the pace in the final day of the Sakhir pre-season test, as the Rodin Motorsport driver set a 1:42.468 late in the afternoon session to top the timesheets. Earlier on in the day, it was Isack Hadjar who led the Campos Racing one-two ahead of his teammate Josep María Martí.
MORNING
Hadjar hit the ground running immediately taking the top spot with a 1:45.331 in the opening half an hour. 2024 teammate Martí made it a 1-2 for Campos Racing, as the Spaniard slotted into P2, 0.2s down on the best effort. With long running and race stints very much the focus of the first session, major improvements were scarce for the majority. Andrea Kimi Antonelli moved his PREMA Racing #4 up to P4 inside the final hour of running, slotting in just behind Trident’s Roman Stanek.
Gabriel Bortoleto improved to seventh position with just over 20 minutes left of the first segment for Invicta Racing before teammate Kush Maini followed suit and went third quickest, 0.9s off Hadjar. At the chequered flag, Joshua Duerksen of PHM AIX Racing was the busiest in the session, accumulating 51 laps for the German team.
| Position | Driver | Licence | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Campos Racing | 1:45.331 | 39 |
| 2 | Josep María Martí | ESP | Campos Racing | 1:45.547 | 41 |
| 3 | Kush Maini | IND | Invicta Racing | 1:46.310 | 48 |
| 4 | Roman Stanek | CZE | Trident | 1:46.662 | 28 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | ITA | PREMA Racing | 1:46.733 | 48 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | BRB | Rodin Motorsport | 1:46.759 | 45 |
| 7 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:46.885 | 20 |
| 8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Invicta Racing | 1:47.066 | 45 |
| 9 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | MP Motorsport | 1:47.081 | 42 |
| 10 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | MP Motorsport | 1:47.194 | 43 |
| 11 | Victor Martins | FRA | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.391 | 44 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | JPN | Rodin Motorsport | 1:47.391 | 46 |
| 13 | Jak Crawford | USA | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:47.432 | 33 |
| 14 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | 1:47.576 | 28 |
| 15 | Zak O’Sullivan | GBR | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.840 | 30 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | PREMA Racing | 1:48.005 | 48 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1:48.226 | 47 |
| 18 | Rafael Villagómez | MEX | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:48.560 | 42 |
| 19 | Paul Aron | EST | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1:48.987 | 46 |
| 20 | Joshua Duerksen | PRY | PHM AIX Racing | 1:49.205 | 51 |
| 21 | Taylor Barnard | GBR | PHM AIX Racing | 1:50.082 | 24 |
| 22 | Juan Manuel Correa | USA | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:50.638 | 11 |
AFTERNOON
Into the afternoon session and Bortoleto headed the way early on, setting a 1:43.435 to head the field by half a second over Antonelli. The Italians PREMA teammate Oliver Bearman improved shortly afterward to put the pair second and third overall, 0.172s and 0.360s down on the Brazilian respectively.
With just over an hour and a half to go, Hadjar lifted himself back into the top five setting a 1:44.430. Making him the only other driver within a second of the top effort as teams focused on making the most of the final session. Heading towards the final hour of running and the Frenchman was back on top, setting a 1:42.712 to lead a Campos 1-2 ahead of Martí, who was 0.175s back in P2.
Into the final 60 minutes of testing action and Richard Verschoor leapt up to third with a 1:43.201 but it wasn’t until the final 10 minutes when the timing screens lit up. Ritomo Miyata, then Jak Crawford and then Zane Maloney took turns at the top, as the latter fired in a 1:42.468 to go first. It proved to be the best in the final session as the Bajan driver topped the third and final day, making it two out of three across the test.
| Position | Driver | Licence | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zane Maloney | BRB | Rodin Motorsport | 1:42.468 | 33 |
| 2 | Jak Crawford | USA | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:42.661 | 30 |
| 3 | Ritomo Miyata | JPN | Rodin Motorsport | 1:42.684 | 34 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | FRA | Campos Racing | 1:42.712 | 37 |
| 5 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:42.808 | 29 |
| 6 | Josep María Martí | ESP | Campos Racing | 1:42.887 | 38 |
| 7 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | 1:43.201 | 31 |
| 8 | Franco Colapinto | ARG | MP Motorsport | 1:43.294 | 36 |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | MP Motorsport | 1:43.337 | 37 |
| 10 | Joshua Duerksen | PRY | PHM AIX Racing | 1:43.352 | 25 |
| 11 | Juan Manuel Correa | USA | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:43.386 | 34 |
| 12 | Gabriel Bortoleto | BRA | Invicta Racing | 1:43.435 | 48 |
| 13 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | ITA | PREMA Racing | 1:43.607 | 32 |
| 14 | Rafael Villagómez | BRA | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:43.749 | 39 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | CZE | Trident | 1:43.775 | 37 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | GBR | PREMA Racing | 1:43.795 | 35 |
| 17 | Taylor Barnard | GBR | PHM AIX Racing | 1:44.124 | 43 |
| 18 | Zak O’Sullivan | GBR | ART Grand Prix | 1:45.196 | 36 |
| 19 | Kush Maini | IND | Invicta Racing | 1:46.956 | 37 |
| 20 | Victor Martins | FRA | ART Grand Prix | 1:47.453 | 48 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1:47.933 | 50 |
| 22 | Paul Aron | EST | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 1:48.138 | 48 |
Here’s how Day 1 of Bahrain F2 test panned out
Here’s how Day 2 of Bahrain F2 test panned out
[Note: The story is as per press release]