Sette Camara sets pace on second day of F2 test

Brazilian driver Sette Camara set a 1m27.392s in the morning session, lapping almost a second quicker than last year’s pole time at the circuit.

He was 0.115s faster than Nyck de Vries, who had topped the previous day for ART Grand Prix, the two reversing positions from the day before.

De Vries had also set the best time in two of the three testing days at Jerez last week.

All the fastest times came in the morning session as few drivers got below a 1m30s in the afternoon session, Ralph Boschung setting the best time with a 1m28.789s for Trident.

Renault junior Guan Yu Zhou rounded out the top three for the new Virtuosi Racing team with his morning time.

Carlin’s Louis Deletraz completed the top five, the Swiss driver and all those above him going faster than de Vries’ Tuesday benchmark.

Zhou’s teammate Luca Ghiotto was the last man to get under 1m28s in sixth, ahead of Ferrari F1 junior Mick Schumacher for Prema.

Nicholas Latifi made sure both DAMS reached the top 10, the Williams reserve in seventh, ahead of Sauber Junior Team by Charouz driver Callum Ilott – who is affiliated to Ferrari.

Honda-backed Nobuharu Matsushita managed ninth ahead of Sean Gelael.

De Vries’s ART Grand Prix teammate Nikita Mazepin brought out the only red flag of the afternoon with a spin, while MP pairing Jordan King and Mahaveer Raghunathan, as well as Sauber Junior Team's Juan Manuel Correa, all caused morning stoppages.

Morning session

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Sergio Sette Camara	DAMS	1'27.392		34
2	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1'27.507	0.115	41
3	Guan Yu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	1'27.562	0.170	43
4	Louis Deletraz	Carlin	1'27.620	0.228	30
5	Luca Ghiotto	UNI-Virtuosi	1'27.922	0.530	34
6	Mick Schumacher	Prema Racing	1'28.024	0.632	32
7	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1'28.139	0.747	31
8	Callum Ilott	Sauber/Charouz	1'28.151	0.759	13
9	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin	1'28.163	0.771	29
10	Sean Gelael	Prema Racing	1'28.243	0.851	23
11	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1'28.270	0.878	20
12	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	1'28.299	0.907	23
13	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber/Charouz	1'28.493	1.101	35
14	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1'28.529	1.137	41
15	Ralph Boschung	Trident	1'28.652	1.260	29
16	Roberto Merhi	Campos Racing	1'28.743	1.351	22
17	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden	1'28.913	1.521	30
18	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1'28.988	1.596	49
19	Tatiana Calderón	BWT Arden	1'29.682	2.290	32
20	Mahaveer Raghunathan	MP Motorsport	1'29.828	2.436	25

Afternoon session

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Ralph Boschung	Trident	1'28.789		27
2	Roberto Merhi	Campos Racing	1'29.183	0.394	31
3	Nobuharu Matsushita	Carlin	1'29.476	0.687	37
4	Juan Manuel Correa	Sauber/Charouz	1'29.555	0.766	45
5	Louis Deletraz	Carlin	1'29.841	1.052	41
6	Callum Ilott	Sauber/Charouz	1'30.759	1.970	44
7	Mahaveer Raghunathan	MP Motorsport	1'31.232	2.443	39
8	Anthoine Hubert	BWT Arden	1'31.448	2.659	41
9	Jack Aitken	Campos Racing	1'32.068	3.279	55
10	Sean Gelael	Prema Racing	1'32.608	3.819	64
11	Jordan King	MP Motorsport	1'32.947	4.158	31
12	Nikita Mazepin	ART Grand Prix	1'33.158	4.369	54
13	Guan Yu Zhou	UNI-Virtuosi	1'34.454	5.665	47
14	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1'34.575	5.786	55
15	Giuliano Alesi	Trident	1'34.644	5.855	35
16	Nyck de Vries	ART Grand Prix	1'34.656	5.867	53
17	Luca Ghiotto	UNI-Virtuosi	1'34.869	6.080	32
18	Sergio Sette Camara	DAMS	1'35.354	6.565	52
19	Mick Schumacher	Prema Racing	1'35.624	6.835	13
20	Tatiana Calderon	BWT Arden	1'36.525	7.736	29