ARJUN Maini steered Trident to the top of the timesheet yesterday on the second day of official Formula 2 pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Maini set the day’s best time of 1min 42.779secs in near-perfect conditions during the morning session around BIC’s 5.412km Grand Prix Track. The talented Indian driver registered his mark midway through his 34-lap session.
Maini dropped the pace in the afternoon dropping to 1min 46.162secs.
Going second-fastest for the day was Jack Aitken, in 1min 43.003secs in his ART Grand Prix challenger.
Nyck de Vries of Pertamina Prema Theodore Racing was third fastest in 1min 43.080secs. Luca Ghiotto of Campos Vexatec Racing was fourth, Louis Delatraz of Charouz Racing fifth and George Russell, also of ART sixth.
Laps
Each of the 20 drivers’ fastest laps in the morning was quicker than what they clocked in their afternoon session. The field was so tightly knit in the morning that everyone ranked second through 18th position were within the 1min 43-second mark, with Maini being the only driver to go below it.F
In the afternoon, Santino Ferrucci of Trident was the pace-setter with a best lap of 1min 45.522secs. Ralph Boschung of MP Motorsport followed in second, while Maini was third.
A total of 20 cars from all 10 Formula 2 teams took part in yesterday’s testing. Action concludes today.
The Bahrain tests are the second of the pre-season for Formula 2. The first was in Le Castellet, France at Circuit Paul Ricard held earlier this month.
Testing is being done in the brand new Formula 2 2018 chassis. The new Formula 2 season will be flagging off in the Kingdom in support of the Formula 1 2018 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix from April 6 to 8.
The FIA Formula 2 Championship is one of two support series to Formula 1 at this year’s Bahrain Grand Prix. The other is the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge Middle East.
Following Bahrain, the 2018 championship calendar includes rounds in Azerbaijan, Spain, Monaco, France, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Russia and the UAE.
For further information on events at BIC, visit bahraingp.com or call +973-17-450000.