Formula 2

Armstrong ends pre-season test on top

1 Mins read
Credit: FIA Formula 2

The only FIA Formula 2 pre-season test ended with New Zealander Marcus Armstrong topping the timing screens on a day which saw 17 of the 22 cars within a second.

Armstrong has made the move to DAMS following a disappointing 2020 with ART and now seems settled in his new surroundings with the best time of the final day.

The Kiwi has been kept on by Ferrari for another year as a junior driver and fellow F1 juniors were snapping at his heels with Red Bull and Hitech GP duo Liam Lawson and Juri Vips second and third in the morning.

Alpine and UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou was fourth quickest with the quartet within a tenth of a second of each other when the chequered flag fell.

MP Motorsport plucked Felipe Drugovich from FIA Formula 3 at the end of 2019 and he turned out to be a revelation, they will be hoping the same can be said of Lirim Zendeli who was fifth quickest ahead of Robert Shwartzman.

Drugovich himself was tenth in the morning as Ralph Boschung, Richard Verschoor and Oscar Piastri impressed again.

Campos bossed the afternoon session with Boschung leading his rookie teammate Gianluca Petecof and Armstrong’s DAMS teammate Roy Nissany.

The lap times were almost three seconds slower than the morning benchmark as everyone focussed on race preparations and pit-stop practice on the heat of the Bahrain desert.

The new Formula 2 season will begin at the Sakhir International Circuit on 26-28th March with everyone hoping 2021 will be their year.

Pos.NameTeamLap Time
1Marcus ArmstrongDAMS1:42:173
2Liam LawsonHitech GP1:42:218
3Juri VipsHitech GP1:42:224
4Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:42:234
5Lirim ZendeliMP Motorsport1:42:356
6Robert ShwartzmanPREMA1:42:359
7Ralph BoschungCampos1:42:427
8Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport1:42:522
9Oscar PiastriPREMA1:42:527
10Felipe DrugovichUNI-Virtuosi1:42:570
11David BeckmannCharouz1:42:587
12Roy NissanyDAMS1:42:590
13Théo PourchaireART1:42:595
14Christian LundgaardART1:42:674
15Bent ViscaalTrident1:42:815
16Marino SatoTrident1:42:920
17Matteo NanniniHWA Racelab1:43:159
18Gianluca PetecofCampos1:43:219
19Guilherme SamaiaCharouz1:43:283
20Dan TicktumCarlin1:43:496
21Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:43:585
22Alessio DeleddaHWA Racelab1:45:076
MORNING SESSION
Pos.NameTeamLap Time
1Ralph BoschungCampos1:44:905
2Gianluca PetecofCampos1:45:537
3Roy NissanyDAMS1:46:104
4Robert ShwartzmanPREMA1:47:146
5Lirim ZendeliMP Motorsport1:47:305
6Oscar PiastriPREMA1:47:326
7Liam LawsonHitech GP1:47:409
8Théo PourchaireART1:47:426
9Richard VerschoorMP Motorsport1:47:598
10Guilherme SamaiaCharouz1:47:698
11Marcus ArmstrongDAMS1:47:891
12Matteo NanniniHWA Racelab1:47:893
13Dan TicktumCarlin1:47:965
14Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:48:128
15Juri VipsHitech GP1:48:332
16Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:48:446
17Alessio DeleddaHWA Racelab1:48:456
18Christian LundgaardART1:48:487
19Felipe DrugovichUNI-Virtuosi1:48:613
20Bent ViscaalTrident1:48:630
21Marino SatoTrident1:48:926
22David BeckmannCharouz1:50:048
AFTERNOON SESSION
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If it's got an engine, I've watched it race. F2 and F3 correspondent with a sprinkling of speedway here and there.
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