Maini, Bortoleto top final day
TDT | Manama
The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com
Kush Maini and Gabriel Bortoleto powered to the top of their respective timesheets yesterday on the third and final day of pre-season testing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and FIA Formula 3 Championship, held at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
The three-day sessions wrapped up at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”, with F2 running morning and early evening sessions and F3 hitting the track for just a single morning run. All the action took place along BIC’s 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix circuit—the same F2 and F3 will race on when they open their new seasons next month in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2023.
The motorsport and entertainment spectacle will kick off the 2023 FIA F1 World Championship, and F2 and F3 headline a stellar support race programme that also features the Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East.
The F2 and F3 joint-tests this week at BIC allowed F2’s 22 drivers and F3’s 30 contenders to get some mileage in their cars ahead of the start of their upcoming campaigns. In yesterday’s F2 tests, Maini posted the day’s best time of 1:42.623 during the two-and-a-half-hour early evening session, which began in daylight conditions and ended under lights.
The Campos Racing ace led nine drivers who were all within seven-tenths of a second from each other. Roy Nissany of PHM Racing by Charouz was second-fastest with a best lap of 1:42.905, while day one leader Theo Pourchaire of ART Grand Prix was third on 1:42.913.
Enzo Fittipaldi of Rodin Carlin finished fourth on the timesheet with a fastest lap of 1:42.971, and he was followed by Dennis Hauger of MP Motorsport on 1:43.020 while Rodin Carlin teammate Zane Maloney was sixth in 1:43.094.
Clement Novalak (1:43.170) of Trident was classified seventh, Brad Benavides (1:43.226) of PHM Racing by Charouz eighth, and Jehan Daruvala (1:43.300) of MP Motorsport finished ninth. Earlier in the day, Ralph Boschung was fastest in F2’s morning session, which lasted an hour and 45 minutes.
Boschung had a best lap of 1:45.027 to put Campos Racing at the top for both F2 sessions. He was more than two seconds quicker than the rest of the field. Novalak followed with a 1:47.031 time, while Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix was classified third on 1:47.054. Meanwhile, in F3’s single four-hour session yesterday, Bortoleto put Trident at the top of the ranking with a fastest lap of 1:47.417.
Gabriele Mini of Hitech Pulse-Eight was a close second with a time of 1:47.452, while the overall pace-setter from the first two days, Gregoire Saucy of ART Grand Prix, came third with a 1:47.519 lap. Paul Aron of PREMA Racing was fourth at 1:47.641 and Hugh Barter fifth for Campos Racing at 1:47.704, while rounding out the top eight were Dino Beganovic (1:47.713) of PREMA, Josep Maria Marti (1:47.789) of Campos and Caio Collet (1:47.802) of Van Amersfoort Racing.
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