Carlin’s Liam Lawson became the first driver to go under 1m 42s in pre-season testing, finishing top of the leaderboard in the afternoon on Day 2 at Sakhir.

A selection of the teams opted to run a Qualifying simulation in the afternoon, but the Red Bull-backed second year was the only driver to break the 1m 42s barrier. Lawson’s best effort of 1:41.623 was a comfortable 0.473s ahead of Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung and ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire, who had set identical laptimes.

Lawson’s 2021 teammate Jüri Vips had put Hitech Grand Prix on top in the earlier session, beating out Trident’s Richard Verschoor and Charouz Racing System’s Cem Bölükbaşı.

MORNING

Vips had endured a stop-start opening day of testing but led a long-run focused morning session from start to finish on Day 2. The Estonian enjoyed a trouble-free opening stint and was the only driver to break the 1m 47s barrier, ending with a healthy 0.526s advantage over second-placed Verschoor.

The order remained consistent throughout the morning with six drivers totting up more than 40 laps each, including Enzo Fittipaldi, Calan Williams, Logan Sargeant and Frederik Vesti, who all made the top 10.

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Vips topped the opening session on Day 2
Vips topped the opening session on Day 2

There were three red flags during the session as Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel twice came to a stop on the track, firstly at Turn 8 and later at Turn 7. DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa was the other stoppage, as he pulled up at Turn 2. The duo were the only drivers other than front two Vips and Verschoor to post fewer than 30 laps in the morning.

Charouz pairing Bölükbaşı and Fittipaldi finished in third and fourth ahead of VAR’s Jake Hughes and Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung.

Williams, Sargeant and Vesti completed more than 128 laps between them and ended the morning in seventh, eighth and ninth. PREMA Racing’s Dennis Hauger rounded out the top 10.

AFTERNOON

Several drivers strapped on fresh boots for the afternoon as they aimed to lay down some fast times, but the session was interrupted early on as Marcus Armstrong’s Hitech clipped the barriers at Turn 8.

When the session resumed, MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich posted the fastest time of the day so far with a 1:42.907. The Brazilian managed to find a further six tenths later on, which placed him eighth at the flag.

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Sargeant completed the most laps on Day 2 with 71 overall
Sargeant completed the most laps on Day 2 with 71 overall

Carlin’s new-look line-up both took further chunks out of the quickest time as Sargeant dropped it down to 1:42.144, less than a tenth better than Lawson. Boschung briefly replaced them at the top of the table, but Lawson reacted by breaking the 1m 42s barrier for the first time this week.

Making his maiden appearance in the top five, Pourchaire matched Boschung to the thousandth, although classified third as the Swiss had completed his lap first.

Sargeant had fallen to fourth at the flag, just over half a second slower than his teammate. Virtuosi duo Jack Doohan and Marino Sato finished in fifth and sixth, just 0.030s apart.

In seventh was Vesti, who finished ahead of Drugovich. Jehan Daruvala and Verschoor completed the top 10, while Cem Bölükbaşı drove the most laps, setting 34.

The final day of pre-season testing will begin at 11.45am on Friday.

2022 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – SAKHIR PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION

DRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS
1Juri VipsHitech Grand Prix1:46.70523
2Richard VerschoorTrident1:47.23122
3Cem BölükbasiCharouz Racing System1:47.68833
4Enzo FittipaldiCharouz Racing System1:48.89941
5Jake HughesVan Amersfoort Racing1:48.90934
6Ralph BoschungCampos Racing1:48.91132
7Calan WilliamsTrident1:48.94043
8Logan SargeantCarlin1:49.21845
9Frederik VestiART Grand Prix1:49.32640
10Dennis HaugerPREMA Racing1:49.40937
11Liam LawsonCarlin1:49.43843
12Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:49.44239
13Marino SatoVirtuosi Racing1:49.59531
14Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing1:49.75837
15Marcus ArmstrongHitech Grand Prix1:49.83240
16Théo PourchaireART Grand Prix1:49.87039
17Roy NissanyDAMS1:49.91137
18Jack DoohanVirtuosi Racing1:50.03321
19Olli CaldwellCampos Racing1:50.03534
20Ayumu IwasaDAMS1:50.20216
21Clément NovalakMP Motorsport1:50.21435
22Amaury CordeelVan Amersfoort Racing1:50.53110

2022 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – SAKHIR PRE-SEASON TEST, DAY 1, AFTERNOON SESSION

DRIVERTEAMLAPTIMELAPS
1Liam LawsonCarlin1:41.62320
2Ralph BoschungCampos Racing1:42.09620
3Théo PourchaireART Grand Prix1:42.09625
4Logan SargeantCarlin1:42.13326
5Jack DoohanVirtuosi Racing1:42.14422
6Marino SatoVirtuosi Racing1:42.17425
7Frederik VestiART Grand Prix1:42.17426
8Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:42.27325
9Jehan DaruvalaPREMA Racing1:42.28620
10Richard VerschoorTrident1:42.29730
11Jake HughesVan Amersfoort Racing1:42.48327
12Amaury CordeelVan Amersfoort Racing1:42.56230
13Juri VipsHitech Grand Prix1:42.56526
14Dennis HaugerPREMA Racing1:42.61220
15Cem BölükbasiCharouz Racing System1:42.72934
16Enzo FittipaldiCharouz Racing System1:42.73923
17Clément NovalakMP Motorsport1:42.99123
18Calan WilliamsTrident1:43.00028
19Roy NissanyDAMS1:43.08326
20Ayumu IwasaDAMS1:43.28428
21Olli CaldwellCampos Racing1:43.65422
22Marcus ArmstrongHitech Grand Prix1:57.8542