Minì fastest on second day of Sakhir in-season test

Gabriele Minì put PREMA Racing on top after the second day of in-season testing. The Alpine Academy driver recorded a 1:42.488 and the fastest time of the test so far, pipping Victor Martins and ART Grand Prix for the top spot.

In the morning session, Richard Verschoor led the pack for MP Motorsport with a 1:46.475.

MORNING

Drivers were straight out on track ready for business and the lead changed hands multiple times over with many bolting on the red-walled Soft Pirelli tyres.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett was superseded by teammate Rafael Villagómez in the early running, before Alexander Dunne of Rodin Motorsport and then Richard Verschoor took over the top spot. The MP Motorsport driver’s 1:48.119 lasted a few minutes longer, before Joshua Duerksen put AIX Racing up to P1 with a 1:47.984 in the opening 15 minutes.

Longer running on the Softs in particular took up the majority of the first session of the day, as teams logged race run data ahead of the cooler afternoon segment.

Into the final hour and Verschoor lowered his best effort. The Dutchman set a 1:46.475 to lead the pack and teammate Oliver Goethe followed suit, slotting into second just 0.174s down. The MP pairing gapped the rest of the field by 1.3s back to Duerksen in third position with his earlier time.

Bennett followed in fourth ahead of pace setter from Day 1, Victor Martins. Sixth was ART Grand Prix teammate Ritomo Miyata, ahead of PREMA Racing teammates Sebastián Montoya and Gabriele Minì, who rounded out the top 10 for the first session.

The ART duo were the busiest drivers of the first segment, logging 49 laps apiece.

AFTERNOON

Floodlights on, the times tumbled in the opening half hour of running, but Leonardo Fornaroli claimed the quickest time of the day in the opening 10 minutes with a 1:45.626. He bettered that by 0.320s, before Duerksen resumed his positive running to go into the 1:44s to take over in P1.

The Paraguayan driver laid down another quickfire improvement to a 1:43.832. Teammate Cian Shields cut the deficit to 0.6s as the session moved into the second hour.

Jak Crawford was next to go quickest of all, as he logged a 1:43.143 for DAMS Lucas Oil while teammate Kush Maini slotted into third, 0.118s down on Duerksen.

Another change arrived as Fornaroli moved Invicta Racing to the top, laying down a 1:43.011 with an hour and 20 minutes to go.

Heading towards the final hour, several drivers continued to improve. Arvid Lindblad moved up to second just 0.028s down on the leader while Alexander Dunne made it three drivers within a tenth in third, 0.062s down on the top time. Roman Stanek moved up to fourth for Invicta, a tenth off his teammate’s earlier effort.

Josep María Martí put Campos Racing on top for the first time all day as he broke into the 1:42s. Fornaroli broke back almost right away however, lowering the top time to a 1:42.828.

There was one final change at the top as Minì put PREMA into P1 thanks to a 1:42.488 with 40 minutes left.

Martins almost made it two from two this week but slotted into second, 0.095s down on the Italian.

Invicta wound up third and fourth with Stanek leading Fornaroli while Verschoor rounded out the top five for MP. Martí led Goethe, Miyata, Crawford and Sami Meguetounif in the rest of the top 10.

Running gets back underway for the final day of testing at 12:30 local time.

2025 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – SAKHIR IN-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, MORNING SESSION

2025 FIA FORMULA 2 CHAMPIONSHIP – SAKHIR IN-SEASON TEST, DAY 2, AFTERNOON SESSION