Ghiotto, Peroni set the pace on final day of F2, F3 pre-season tests at BIC

Luca Ghiotto and Alexander Peroni were fastest on Tuesday on the final day of pre-season testing for Formula 2 and Formula 3 at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.

Ghiotto of Hitech Grand Prix set the pace amongst the 22 Formula 2 testers, while Peroni of Campos Racing had the quickest lap from the 30 Formula 3 runners. They each posted their best times during their respective afternoon sessions.

BIC’s 5.412-kilometre Grand Prix track hosted the tests, which took place over the last three days at “The Home of Motorsport in the Middle East”. Each series had a pair of two-and-a-half-hour sessions a day.

Both Formula 2 and Formula 3 were testing ahead of the start of their 2020 seasons, which are scheduled to flag off with their opening rounds from March 19 to 22 in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2020.

Ghiotto’s Formula 2 leading time on the final day was one minute 41.252 seconds, which was an improvement from the best lap of the second day by a mere 0.008 seconds. Ghiotto tested for 31 laps as the sun came down and the floodlights lit up at BIC.

Felipe Drugovich of MP Motorsport was second with a time of 1:41.324 and 27 laps, while Jack Aitken of Campos Racing was classified third with 30 laps.

Rounding out the top six were Mick Schumacher of PREMA Racing, Drugovich’s teammate Nobuharu Matsushita and Ghiotto’s Hitech partner Nikita Mazepin.

In the morning, Jehan Daruvala of Carlin had a fastest time of 1:43.428 in 33 laps of work. Giuliano Alesi of BWT HWA Racelab came a close second at 1:43.438 and 20 laps, whereas Daruvala’s Carlin partner Yuki Tsunoda was classified third with a 1:43.632 fastest time with 31 laps completed.

Fourth through sixth in the session were Alesi’s teammate Artem Markelov, Louis Deletraz of Charouz Racing System and Guilherme Samaia of Campos Racing.

In Formula 3, Peroni was the top man of the day with his quickest lap of 1:46.173, which was once again an improvement from the previous day’s top mark. He completed 16 laps in their afternoon testing.

Lawson was marginally faster than Jack Hughes of HWA Racelab, who had a time of 1:46.200 while going for 33 laps, and Hughes’s teammate Jack Doohan was classified third with a 1:46.324 mark also from 33 laps.

Logan Sargeant of PREMA Racing, Richard Verschoor of MP Motorsport and Sebastian Fernandez of ART Grand Prix rounded out the top six.

During the morning session, Niko Kari of Charouz Racing System was atop the timesheet with a fastest lap of 1:46.606 and 36 laps to his name.

Day two leader Liam Lawson of Hitech Grand Prix followed with a 1:46.654 best and 37 laps, while Sargeant was third at 1:46.786 with 33 laps completed. Lawson’s teammate Dennis Hauger ranked fourth, while the HWA Racelab pair of Hughes and Enzo Fittipaldi rounded out the six leaders.