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Practice report

Bahrain F2: Drugovich leads practice from DAMS duo

Felipe Drugovich topped FIA Formula 2 practice in Bahrain, leading from Ayumu Iwasa and Roy Nissany.

Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport

Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport

Formula Motorsport Ltd

The MP Motorsport driver, who joins the Dutch outfit having taken four podiums for UNI Virtuosi last year, set a 1m44.484s to top the timesheet.

A last-minute dash from DAMS rookie Iwasa was enough to take second place, bumping teammate Nissany into third, 0.3s behind the leader.

Clement Novalak took fourth place, with a 1m44.769s just 0.01s off third, with Marcus Armstrong in fifth for Hitech Grand Prix.

Like FIA Formula 3, F2 has reverted to a two-race format this season, with one reversed-grid sprint race on Saturday and a feature race on Sunday.

Both series have just one practice session on a Friday before qualifying later in the day.

Novalak was first to set a quick lap, putting a 1m46.879s on the board for MP Motorsport. But he was bumped down to third after Van Amersfoort Racing pair Amaury Cordeel and Jake Hughes went quicker, with the latter fastest with a 1m46.333s.

Much of the field headed on track with 30 minutes remaining of the session, with Charouz Racing System duo Enzo Fittipaldi and rookie Cem Bolukbasi next to put in laps.

Fittipaldi returns to F2 after suffering a fractured heel in a startline crash involving Theo Pourchaire in Jeddah at the end of last season.

As the times tumbled, Liam Lawson put himself in P2 for Carlin with a 1m45.742s, sitting behind Jake Hughes (VAR), with Olli Caldwell in P3 for Campos Racing, having joined the team for the final two races of the 2021 campaign alongside his full-time race seat in F3 for Prema.

Armstrong went second after setting a 1m45.415s, pushing Lawson and Trident’s Richard Verschoor into P3 and P4. The Kiwi enters his third season in the series, having finished 13th for DAMS in 2021.

Armstrong improved on his earlier time to trade the top spot with Lawson, who briefly went quickest with a 1m45.215s, before he broke into the 1m44s with a 1m44.901s to top the timesheet.

Jehan Daruvala was next to break the 1m44s barrier, with the Red Bull junior topping Armstrong’s time by less than 0.2s to go quickest for Prema Racing.

Reigning F3 champion Dennis Hauger put himself up into sixth position with less than eight minutes left of the session, remaining with Prema Racing for his rookie F2 campaign. He finished the session in P11.

With times continuing to improve, Novalak returned to the top of the timesheet with a 1m44.769s, before teammate Felipe Drugovich went quicker by 0.3s.

Nissany was next to improve, with a 1m44.754s enough to put him up into P2, before a last minute run from Iwasa bumped him into third.

Jack Doohan, who finished runner-up in F3 last season, finished in P14 for Virtuosi.

F2 Bahrain free practice results

Cla Driver Team Time Gap
1 Brazil Felipe Drugovich
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'44.484
2 Ayumu Iwasa
Japan Nissan e.dams 1'44.679 0.195
3 Israel Roy Nissany
Japan Nissan e.dams 1'44.754 0.270
4 Switzerland Clement Novalak
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'44.769 0.285
5 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'44.833 0.349
6 India Jehan Daruvala
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'44.838 0.354
7 New Zealand Liam Lawson
United Kingdom Carlin 1'44.886 0.402
8 United States Logan Sargeant
United Kingdom Carlin 1'45.112 0.628
9 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell
Spain Campos Racing 1'45.241 0.757
10 United Kingdom Jake Hughes
Van Amersfoort Racing 1'45.244 0.760
11 Norway Dennis Hauger
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'45.370 0.886
12 Netherlands Richard Verschoor
Italy Trident 1'45.414 0.930
13 Estonia Jüri Vips
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'45.476 0.992
14 Australia Jack Doohan
Virtuosi Racing 1'45.548 1.064
15 France Theo Pourchaire
France ART Grand Prix 1'45.845 1.361
16 Denmark Frederik Vesti
France ART Grand Prix 1'46.047 1.563
17 Switzerland Ralph Boschung
Spain Campos Racing 1'46.200 1.716
18 Amaury Cordeel
Van Amersfoort Racing 1'46.224 1.740
19 Australia Calan Williams
Italy Trident 1'46.393 1.909
20 Japan Marino Sato
Virtuosi Racing 1'46.750 2.266
21 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'46.842 2.358
22 Turkey Cem Bolukbasi
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'47.905 3.421
Cla Driver Team Time Gap
1 Brazil Felipe Drugovich
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'44.484
2 Ayumu Iwasa
Japan Nissan e.dams 1'44.679 0.195
3 Israel Roy Nissany
Japan Nissan e.dams 1'44.754 0.270
4 Switzerland Clement Novalak
Netherlands MP Motorsport 1'44.769 0.285
5 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'44.833 0.349
6 India Jehan Daruvala
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'44.838 0.354
7 New Zealand Liam Lawson
United Kingdom Carlin 1'44.886 0.402
8 United States Logan Sargeant
United Kingdom Carlin 1'45.112 0.628
9 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell
Spain Campos Racing 1'45.241 0.757
10 United Kingdom Jake Hughes
Van Amersfoort Racing 1'45.244 0.760
11 Norway Dennis Hauger
Italy Prema Powerteam 1'45.370 0.886
12 Netherlands Richard Verschoor
Italy Trident 1'45.414 0.930
13 Estonia Jüri Vips
United Kingdom HitechGP 1'45.476 0.992
14 Australia Jack Doohan
Virtuosi Racing 1'45.548 1.064
15 France Theo Pourchaire
France ART Grand Prix 1'45.845 1.361
16 Denmark Frederik Vesti
France ART Grand Prix 1'46.047 1.563
17 Switzerland Ralph Boschung
Spain Campos Racing 1'46.200 1.716
18 Amaury Cordeel
Van Amersfoort Racing 1'46.224 1.740
19 Australia Calan Williams
Italy Trident 1'46.393 1.909
20 Japan Marino Sato
Virtuosi Racing 1'46.750 2.266
21 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'46.842 2.358
22 Turkey Cem Bolukbasi
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 1'47.905 3.421

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