F2: Doohan leads Day 1 of Barcelona test from Prema pair

Jack Doohan ended up fastest on Day 1 of F2 test at Barcelona ahead of Prema pair of Oliver Bearman and Frederik Vesti.

MORNING

After plenty of installation laps in the opening 30 minutes, Campos Racing’s Kush Maini delivered a 1:27.101 to go fastest early on. Teammate Ralph Boschung bettered that inside the opening hour, with a 1:26.277 lifting him into P1.

Doohan was next to go quickest with a 1:26.031 before lowering that by a few thousandths to a 1:26.018. The Australian beat that time once again, moving onto a 1:25.723 at the top with an hour and 20 minutes remaining.

The first Red Flag of the day came with just over 20 minutes to go. The MP Motorsport #1 car of Dennis Hauger became stuck in the gravel at Turn 3 after a spin mid-way through the right-hander.

Running resumed with 14 minutes to go of the morning session. Jehan Daruvala took full advantage of the remaining time. He set a 1:24.955 on softs to go to the top before compatriot Maini returned to P1 on a 1:24.943. Boschung was another to improve in the final minutes, moving up to P3, 0.105s off his teammate’s session-topping time.

AFTERNOON

Running resumed with Trident taking an early 1-2. Clément Novalak’s 1:27.184 put him ahead of teammate Roman Stanek by 0.272s in the opening minutes. Bearman was next to go quickest, 1:26.860 good enough to put him 0.082s clear in P1.

Enzo Fittipaldi put Rodin Carlin top next, setting a 1:26.642 just before teammate Zane Maloney brought out the first Red Flag of the afternoon. The Bajan driver stopped on track ahead of Turn 8 after a spin.

With running back underway, Ayumu Iwasa took over the top spot for DAMS, setting a 1:26.582 with just over two hours of the session remaining. Fittipaldi improved to go within 0.007s of the Japanese driver’s time, while Amaury Cordeel moved up to third, 0.027s back from Iwasa himself.

With a little over an hour to go, Vesti restored PREMA to the top with a 1:26.110. His improvement wasn’t the last, as Isack Hadjar claimed P1 by 0.2s, setting a 1:25.459. That was beaten by Fittipaldi, who became the first driver into the 1:24s in the afternoon. Doohan joined him shortly after, setting a 1:24.486 to go comfortably quickest.

Bearman moved back up the timing sheets to P2 with a 1:24.624, as Vesti put the PREMAs second and third quickest with 15 minutes left of Day 1. Doohan lowered his own personal best to a 1:24.177, almost half a second quicker than his closest challenger.

[Note: The story is as per press release]