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

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