Hitech GP’s Paul Aron led the field in the Practice session of the F2 2024 Spanish GP weekend with a 1:26.922, followed by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi and MP’s Franco Colapinto within two tenths. The session had a slow start to offset the extreme tyre degradation they’ll face throughout the weekend, with the drivers also having to contend with some tricky corners and lap time deletions.
As it Happened
Campos’ Josep Maria ‘Pepe’ Martí was quick onto the track at the green light, eager to get a feel for the track in his home race. Tyre management is a huge factor on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, keeping most of the drivers in the pits for the first fifteen minutes. They’ll have to contend with extreme degradation on the rears this weekend, as well as track limits.
The first drivers to head out for their flying laps were the two AIX cars of Taylor Barnard and Joshua Dürksen. Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata was alongside them, while the rest stayed in the pits. Dürksen sat atop the table with a 1:27.742, before Miyata bettered his time by 0.272s.
With 27 minutes to go, the majority of the grid were now making their way onto the track to get their sessions underway. Times came in thick and fast, but Miyata, Dürksen and Barnard still remained atop the table until the PREMAs of Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli stormed their way to P1 and P2 respectively. Both PREMA drivers will be eager to impress this weekend, with rumours swirling around their potential promotions to Formula 1 next season.
The Track Evolves
The rest of the grid were now completing their flying laps on the evolving track. Aron posted a 1:26.922 to take the top spot, followed by a flurry of drivers to push the PREMAs down to P9 and P12. Fittipaldi shot up to P2, 0.136 off the pace of the Hitech GP. Colapinto sat in P3 just under five hundredths back.
Richard Verschoor was eager to have a better weekend than Monaco where he was forced to retire with an engine issue, sitting comfortably in P7 with 16 minutes to go. Isack Hadjar was yet to set a time. He was pipped to the post in Monaco after a late Safety Car saw Zak O’Sullivan pit at exactly the right moment, coming out in P1. Hadjar finished his lap in P7, pushing Verschoor to P8.
The drivers bolted on the hard compound tyre for the last ten minutes of running in the only F2 practice session of the 2024 Spanish GP weekend. However, just as the chequered flag was waved, Antonelli faced the wrath of the degraded tyres at Turn 13, heading into the gravel and earning a track time deletion.
Aron finished the session in P1, followed by Fittipaldi in P2 and Colapinto in P3. It was a great session for the DAMS Lucas Oil drivers of Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa, who posted times worthy of P4 and P5 respectively. The drivers will now look to Qualifying, where they face the challenge of track time deletions on the sunny Barcelona track.
Photo credit: Joe Portlock
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