Nyck de Vries returns to the highest Prema in Bahrain

The first pre-season test of Formula 2 at Paul Ricard left feelings very unflattering in that Prema was referring to. Used to dominate during the last two seasons, and after a choice of pilots questioned in certain areas, the Italian team was significantly further than expected in the time table, especially with the pilot who will be your headliners this year, Nyck de Vries.

This situation seems to have changed, at least for the Dutch, that on the first day of testing in Sakhir has begun to show his cards. The junior McLaren, which is facing its second year in the category after passing through the already absent Rapax and Racing Engineering, he managed in the afternoon session with a time of 1:43.785, being one of the two drivers in download of 1:44 in the best of the 48 laps, after being ninth in the morning. The other pilot managed to circumvent that barrier was the swiss Louis Delétraz, one of the sensations of the preseason, placing the car of the newly arrived Charouz on the second place after being third in the morning.

Not less striking, within the theoretical context of the results of a test, it is the third position of Luca Ghiotto behind the wheel of one of the cars of Campos Racing. The Italian rider, who will be taking his third year in the category, led the morning session with a time of 1:44.042 and, although he was three tenths off his time of the afternoon we remained in the top 10. Just nine thousandths of the registration of Ghiotto was Lando Norris, again the best of a Carlin that draws all eyes after his great performance in Paul Ricard. So soon, today have been more discreet, especially in the morning, which is reflected in the ninth place Sérgio Sette Câmara.

Despite suffering a mechanical problem during the first session that left him on the start / finish straight, Arjun Maini returned to have another profitable day of test with Trident, finishing in fifth position, ahead of the second car of Charouz, the property of Antonio Fuoco this season. In seventh place, emerged Ralph Boschung, the only driver confirmed by MP Motorsport to date, beating the third-best rookie of the day, Maximilian Günther. After Sette Câmara, were the two pilots of ART, who devoted the morning to aerodynamic testing, and the two Russian Time, with Tadasuke Makino to improve by thousandths of a Artëm Markelov, who suffered some electronic problems at noon

just like at Paul Ricard, Roberto Merhi again to jump on the second car of MP Motorsport for these tests, although the Spanish has not yet reached an agreement to, at least, to start the season with the Dutch team (like Roy Nissany with Fields). Their performance on the day, with conditions of constant heat throughout the day, it was discreet, finishing in 16th position in the morning and in the 15th in the afternoon, occupying at the end of the 16th place all. After he finished the two DAMS, which sacrificed the pursuit of speed in pursuit of other aspects after causing their cars paths for red flags in the morning. All of them will have the opportunity to prove what is required in the next two days.

Test Formula 2 in Sakhir, day 1

(R): Newbie(T): Pilot test

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