Bahrain F2: Drugovich leads practice from DAMS duo

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

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