Sakhir, Day 2: Daruvala quickest for the 2nd day running in post-season testing

Jehan Daruvala went fastest in post-season testing for the second day in a row with Carlin, beating out PREMA Racing’s Robert Shwartzman by 0.167s. Daruvala’s Carlin teammate for the three-day stint, Dan Ticktum, was another familiar name at the front in Sakhir, finishing third overall.

MORNING

ART Grand Prix were the first out onto the track for fast laps on a warm and windy morning at Sakhir, with their new pairing of Christian Lundgaard and Théo Pourchaire topping the timesheets before switching the focus to longer runs.

Ralph Boschung has already been announced with Campos for 2021 and took the Spanish side to the top of the charts shortly after the hour mark, lapping at 1:42.244, 0.027s ahead of Tuesday’s fastest man, Jehan Daruvala.

Hitech’s all Red Bull junior team line-up impressed on Day 2, with Liam Lawson lapping less than a tenth off the quickest time for P3, three tenths ahead of Jüri Vips.

It was heads down for most of the grid, with a large focus on gathering data. Felipe Drugovich, Ticktum and Marino Sato all posted more than 40 laps, finishing sixth, eighth and tenth. UNI-Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou clocked in the most of the morning, lapping 53 times, but finished down in 20th.

Marcus Armstrong was just seven tenths off the quickest time with DAMS, taking P7, two places ahead of his teammate Roy Nissany in ninth.

AFTERNOON

Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri returned from the break with a fresh set of Pirelli boots and wasted no time in leaping from the bottom of the timesheets to the top, setting the afternoon standard at 1:43.835.

Drugovich was looking more and more comfortable with UNI-Virtuosi, going five tenths quicker than the PREMA pair to steal P1 for a period, though the Brazilian would end the afternoon in sixth.

The quickest pairing on Day 1 then returned to the top of the order with 90 minutes to go in the second session, Daruvala once again leading Ticktum. Both of them faster than the morning’s quickest man, Boschung.

There were two stoppages with half an hour to go when Matteo Nannini halted at Turn 8 in the HWA machine, before Pourchaire span into the barriers at the same corner.

Shwartzman surged to P1 with 20 minutes to go, but couldn’t quite do enough to keep himself there, as a late lap from Daruvala stole the top spot by 0.167s. While, the Red Bull junior’s teammate, Ticktum, crept into third.

Liam Lawson finished as the fastest rookie with Hitech, four tenths off the pace in fourth, ahead of Marcus Armstrong at DAMS.

Louis Delétraz enjoyed a productive second day at MP Motorsport, going seventh fastest ahead of Charouz pairing David Beckmann and Guilherme Samaia. Another F3 graduate, Clement Novalak, completed the top ten with Trident.

MORNING SESSION

1 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:42.244 33
2 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:42.271 43
3 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:42.337 35
4 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:42.550 30
5 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:42.819 32
6 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:42.931 45
7 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:42.961 39
8 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:43.018 44
9 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:43.082 36
10 Marino Sato Trident 1:43.095 41
11 Logan Sargeant Campos Racing 1:43.099 42
12 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:43.117 33
13 Clément Novalak Trident 1:43.277 22
14 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:43.316 37
15 Louis Delétraz MP Motorsport 1:43.464 41
16 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:43.718 38
17 Matteo Nannini BWT HWA RACELAB 1:43.855 28
18 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:44.650 44
19 Roberto Merhi BWT HWA RACELAB 1:45.844 17
20 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:47.579 53
21 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:48.139 46
22 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 2:03.206 31

AFTERNOON SESSION

1 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 1:41.686 34
2 Robert Shwartzman PREMA Racing 1:41.853 33
3 Dan Ticktum Carlin 1:42.050 35
4 Liam Lawson Hitech Grand Prix 1:42.177 39
5 Marcus Armstrong DAMS 1:42.281 42
6 Felipe Drugovich UNI-Virtuosi 1:42.373 29
7 Louis Delétraz MP Motorsport 1:42.375 23
8 David Beckmann Charouz Racing System 1:42.398 40
9 Guilherme Samaia Charouz Racing System 1:42.415 38
10 Clément Novalak Trident 1:42.467 47
11 Logan Sargeant Campos Racing 1:42.512 36
12 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1:42.629 47
13 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1:42.635 31
14 Jüri Vips Hitech Grand Prix 1:42.672 39
15 Oscar Piastri PREMA Racing 1:42.719 33
16 Marino Sato Trident 1:42.869 53
17 Roy Nissany DAMS 1:42.876 30
18 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 1:42.888 41
19 Lirim Zendeli MP Motorsport 1:43.068 18
20 Matteo Nannini BWT HWA RACELAB 1:43.744 25
21 Théo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1:44.519 35
22 Roberto Merhi BWT HWA RACELAB 1:44.981 19