Richard Verschoor took the top spot to end three-day in-season FIA F2 test in Bahrain, ahead of Joshua Duerksen and Sami Meguetounif.
MORNING
The first 10 minutes were busy, with most heading onto the track and Van Amersfoort Racing were quick to the top of the timing screens. Rafael Villagómez and John Bennett took turns in P1, but the Briton’s 1:47.228 was the effort to beat in the opening 15 minutes of the session, with the former 0.271s down in second.
The Dutch squad maintained its 1-2 for much of the session as the field focused on long runs and race pace during the first three-hour segment of the day. AIX Racing filtered into third and four place with Cian Shields heading up teammate Joshua Duerksen by 0.012s.
Oliver Goethe slotted into fifth for MP Motorsport ahead of PREMA Racing’s Sebastián Montoya and teammate Verschoor. Arvid Lindblad made a late improvement inside the final 15 minutes to move up to eighth position, ahead of Day 2’s leader, Gabriele Minì. Luke Browning rounded out the top 10 finishers in the morning segment for Hitech TGR. On a busy morning for everyone, Leonardo Fornaroli was the busiest driver, logging 50 laps for Invicta Racing.
| Position | Driver | Licence | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Bennett | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:47.228 | 44 |
| 2 | Rafael Villagómez | MEX | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:47.499 | 44 |
| 3 | Cian Shields | GBR | AIX Racing | 1:47.750 | 34 |
| 4 | Joshua Duerksen | PRY | AIX Racing | 1:47.762 | 37 |
| 5 | Oliver Goethe | DEU | MP Motorsport | 1:47.879 | 29 |
| 6 | Sebastián Montoya | COL | PREMA Racing | 1:47.902 | 34 |
| 7 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | MP Motorsport | 1:48.379 | 29 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | GBR | Campos Racing | 1:48.488 | 40 |
| 9 | Gabriele Minì | ITA | PREMA Racing | 1:48.670 | 47 |
| 10 | Luke Browning | GBR | Hitech TGR | 1:48.677 | 41 |
| 11 | Sami Meguetounif | FRA | TRIDENT | 1:48.721 | 32 |
| 12 | Josep María Martí | ESP | Campos Racing | 1:48.888 | 42 |
| 13 | Dino Beganovic | SWE | Hitech TGR | 1:48.947 | 39 |
| 14 | Ritomo Miyata | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.974 | 48 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | CZE | Invicta Racing | 1:48.996 | 33 |
| 16 | Victor Martins | FRA | ART Grand Prix | 1:49.016 | 48 |
| 17 | Kush Maini | IND | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:49.233 | 44 |
| 18 | Leonardo Fornaroli | ITA | Invicta Racing | 1:49.398 | 50 |
AFTERNOON
The final session of the week began with plenty heading out right away. Kush Maini took the top spot early on before Joshua Duerksen posted three quickfire improvements to take P1 with a 1:46.042 in the first 15 minutes. Dino Beganovic then went to the top of the times, a 1:45.596 for the Hitech TGR driver good enough to go to P1.
The Red Flags were out for the first time on the final day after Oliver Goethe stopped on track in the MP #5 car, requiring a recovery. Once his car was clear, the session resumed and Duerksen wasted little time in putting AIX back in first, the Paraguayan setting a 1:43.394 with just over half the session gone.
With little over half an hour to go in the test, Verschoor went quickest of all on a 1:43.273, 0.121s better than Duerksen’s earlier effort. Sami Meguetounif became the only other driver within half a second of the leader, as he moved up to third for TRIDENT.
Shields was another late improver as he went fourth for AIX, until Goethe displaced him in the final five minutes. Beganovic followed in sixth ahead of Maini, Montoya, Victor Martins and Villagómez in the top 10.
| Position | Driver | Licence | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | MP Motorsport | 1:43.273 | 25 |
| 2 | Joshua Duerksen | PRY | AIX Racing | 1:43.394 | 37 |
| 3 | Sami Meguetounif | FRA | TRIDENT | 1:43.698 | 32 |
| 4 | Oliver Goethe | DEU | MP Motorsport | 1:43.991 | 26 |
| 5 | Cian Shields | GBR | AIX Racing | 1:44.036 | 32 |
| 6 | Dino Beganovic | SWE | Hitech TGR | 1:45.596 | 32 |
| 7 | Kush Maini | IND | DAMS Lucas Oil | 1:47.103 | 46 |
| 8 | Sebastián Montoya | COL | PREMA Racing | 1:47.897 | 40 |
| 9 | Victor Martins | FRA | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.051 | 29 |
| 10 | Rafael Villagómez | MEX | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:48.101 | 42 |
| 11 | John Bennett | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1:48.163 | 40 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | JPN | ART Grand Prix | 1:48.178 | 29 |
| 13 | Gabriele Minì | ITA | PREMA Racing | 1:48.201 | 42 |
| 14 | Leonardo Fornaroli | ITA | Invicta Racing | 1:48.263 | 42 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | CZE | Invicta Racing | 1:48.295 | 37 |
| 16 | Josep María Martí | ESP | Campos Racing | 1:48.455 | 47 |
| 17 | Luke Browning | GBR | Hitech TGR | 1:48.513 | 38 |
| 18 | Arvid Lindblad | GBR | Campos Racing | 1:48.525 | 47 |
Here’s how Day 1 of F2 test in Bahrain panned out
Here’s how Day 2 of F2 test in Bahrain panned out
[The story is as per press release]
