Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2024
Event Overview
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Hospitality
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View MorePourchaire, Saucy set the pace for ART Grand Prix as F2, F3 pre-season testing kicks off at BIC
Pourchaire, Saucy set the pace for ART Grand Prix as F2, F3 pre-season testing kicks off at BIC
Theo Pourchaire and Gregoire Saucy topped their respective timesheets today on the first day of pre-season testing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship and FIA Formula 3 Championship at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
Pourchaire set the overall pace to spearhead a highly competitive field of F2 runners, while Saucy had the fastest time on the combined timesheet amongst the younger aspirants of F3—putting ART Grand Prix at the front of the pack in both Formula 1 feeder series.
The day’s fastest laps were set during the second sessions along BIC’s 5.412-kilometre track, held under cooler temperatures and track conditions. Twenty-two cars hit the tarmac for F2 while 30 tested in F3.
Testing continues Wednesday with a second day of alternating sessions. F3 will be the first to go out in the morning from 9am to 11.30am, and then again in the afternoon from 2.30pm to 5pm. F2’s schedule on track will be from 11.45am to 2.15pm and then again from 5.15pm to 7.45pm.
Pourchaire was the fastest man overall in both of today’s F2 sessions. He set his best time of one minute 42.165 seconds late in his evening run under BIC’s state-of-the-art floodlights. Pourchaire had earlier also registered the quickest lap of 1:45.226 in F2’s morning test.
Second overall for the day was Richard Verschoor of Van Amersfoort Racing with a lap of 1:42.293. Arthur Leclerc of DAMS was third-fastest on 1:42.471, while Ralph Boschung of Campos Racing came fourth with a best lap of 1:42.569 and Ayumu Iwasa of DAMS fifth on 1:42.669.
Enzo Fittipaldi (1:42.739) of Rodin Carlin, Jack Doohan (1:42.753) and Jehan Daruvala (1:42.766) of MP Motorsport completed the overall top eight—all from the evening session.
In the morning, Daruvala (1:45.574) was classified behind Porchaire, with Boschung (1:45.652) going third.
Meanwhile, in today’s F3 sessions, Saucy set the best in both the morning and afternoon runs, with his afternoon mark of 1:47.563 being the day’s quickest overall with the sun about to set on the Sakhir race track. The ART Grand Prix ace had earlier set a fastest lap of 1:49.155 in the morning.
Two-thirds of the field had better times after F3’s midday break. Paul Aron set the day’s second-best mark of 1:47.889 for PREMA Racing, while Josep Maria Marti of Campos was third with a 1:48.125 lap.
Saucy’s ART teammate Kaylen Frederick was classified fourth with a top time of 1:48.136, while Zak O’Sullivan of PREMA came fifth on 1:48.162. The Hitech Pulse-Eight pair of Luke Browning (1:48.206) and Gabriele Mini (1:48.214) were sixth and seventh fastest, followed by Dino Beganovic (1:48.279) who made it all three PREMA cars in the top eight.
During the morning, Saucy was followed on the session’s timesheet by Taylor Bernard (1:49.199) of Jenzer Motorsport and O’Sullivan (1:49.448).
This week’s testing action continues until Thursday and it is crucial for the F2 and F3 teams and ace pilots, as it will be the only on-track running they have ahead of their upcoming campaigns.
F2 and F3 will both be kicking off their 2023 seasons at BIC in support of the Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix from 3 to 5 March. They will each hold two races during the F1 race weekend, along with practices and qualifying. Both series’ Sprint Races will take place on the Saturday with the Feature Races to follow on Sunday, while practice and qualifying are scheduled for Friday.
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