Deletraz ends Bahrain post-season F2 test on top

Deletraz was up to pace immediately as track action got underway at 9am local time, lapping the circuit in 1m41.827s just 17 minutes into the session to snatch the top spot early on.

That time would remain unbeaten throughout the day, with no other driver dipping into the 1m41s after six hours of running across two sessions.

Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala finished second on Thursday’s after topping the opening two days of running, with his morning effort of 1m42.005s putting him 0.178s down on Deletraz.

However, the Indian driver still ended the three-day test the quickest of all thanks to his Wednesday benchmark of 1m41.686s.

Red Bull junior Juri Vips (Hitech) finished just over a tenth adrift of the leading duo on Thursday, with Dan Tictkum not far behind in fourth on another strong day for Carlin.

Liam Lawson was the top F3 graduate in fifth, the Hitech driver ending the day just 0.002s off Ticktum’s time of 1m42.302s.

MP Motorsport’s Lirim Zendeli, UNI-Virtuosi driver Felipe Drugovich and Campos man Ralph Boschung were all separated by less than a tenth of a second in sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively.

Boschung’s teammate Logan Sargeant was ninth quickest, while Guilherme Samaia completed the top 10 for Charouz, nearly eight tenths down on Deletraz’s chart-topping time.

Most of the day's quickest times were set in the morning, with only Drugovich's afternoon effort of 1m42.435s good enough to grab a spot in the overall top 10.

Boschung and Bent Viscaal (Trident) stopped on the start/finish straight in the morning due to separate reasons and were unable to return to the track for the rest of the day.

There was only a single stoppage in the afternoon session, deployed just after the halfway mark and lasting less than five minutes when Theo Pourchaire's ART came to a halt.

Day 3 morning results:

	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	LAPS
1	Louis Delétraz	MP Motorsport	1:41.872	25
2	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	1:42.005	31
3	Juri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	1:42.145	46
4	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	1:42.302	30
5	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	1:42.304	40
6	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	1:42.409	35
7	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	1:42.479	9
8	Logan Sargeant	Campos Racing	1:42.524	26
9	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	1:42.606	36
10	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	1:42.695	39
11	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	1:42.697	39
12	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing	1:42.818	32
13	Marino Sato	Trident	1:43.009	16
14	Clément Novalak	UNI-Virtuosi	1:43.028	37
15	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	1:43.164	28
16	Bent Viscaal	Trident	1:43.478	35
17	Oscar Piastri	PREMA Racing	1:43.521	30
18	Roberto Merhi	BWT HWA RACELAB	1:43.704	19
19	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	1:43.966	19
20	Matteo Nannini	BWT HWA RACELAB	1:44.749	22
21	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	1:47.574	41
22	Roy Nissany	DAMS	1:47.964	43

Day 3 afternoon results:

	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPTIME	LAPS
1	Felipe Drugovich	UNI-Virtuosi	1:42.435	26
2	Oscar Piastri	PREMA Racing	1:42.784	33
3	Marcus Armstrong	DAMS	1:42.827	25
4	Robert Shwartzman	PREMA Racing	1:43.268	32
5	Clément Novalak	UNI-Virtuosi	1:43.411	35
6	Guilherme Samaia	Charouz Racing System	1:43.612	41
7	Roy Nissany	DAMS	1:43.652	32
8	Roberto Merhi	BWT HWA RACELAB	1:43.665	29
9	David Beckmann	Charouz Racing System	1:43.922	47
10	Matteo Nannini	BWT HWA RACELAB	1:44.228	28
11	Lirim Zendeli	MP Motorsport	1:45.504	38
12	Louis Deletraz	MP Motorsport	1:46.787	42
13	Liam Lawson	Hitech Grand Prix	1:47.218	42
14	Logan Sargeant	Campos Racing	1:47.387	53
15	Marino Sato	Trident	1:47.527	49
16	Jüri Vips	Hitech Grand Prix	1:47.727	36
17	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	1:47.914	15
18	Christian Lundgaard	ART Grand Prix	1:48.074	47
19	Jehan Daruvala	Carlin	1:48.236	50
20	Dan Ticktum	Carlin	1:48.258	50
--	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	--	0
--	Bent Viscaal	Trident	--	0