Impressive display by both new and returning drivers in Barcelona

Christopher Zanella ended the second and final day of official Formula Two testing as the leading driver to conclude and impressive display by a host of talented international drivers.

The 22-year-old, who recorded two wins on his way to second in this year’s F2 championship, used the cooler morning temperatures to set a best time of 1:37.075s, which remained unbeaten by the narrowest of margins.

German Markus Pommer continued to impress to record the second fastest time of the day, this time in the final stint, with Romanian Mihai Marinescu going third fastest. European F3 Open champion Alex Fontana finished fourth overall with Italian Edoardo Liberati completing the top five.

Once again the second test day saw all the sessions closely contested along with some superb debut drives including that of teenager Matheo Tuscher.

The F2 paddock also welcomed several new faces with James Cole, who raced in F2 this year securing two top 10 finishes, in place of yesterday’s pace-setter Miki Monras, returnee Max Snegirev in for Maxime Jousse and French newcomer Tuscher replacing Aaron Steele.

As the first session got underway it was Italian Vittorio Ghirelli who set the early pace with Riccardo Brutschin, Fontana and Daniel McKenzie all looking quick too. Two red flags towards the end of the session though hampered many drivers who had opted to start a run on new tyres with Alex Craven and Sasha Radola the drivers finding the gravel trap.

Marinescu had also looked quick for the opening session but it was Zanella who secured the honours closely followed by the 22-year-old Romanian with Pommer, Fontana and Liberati completing the top five.

Zanella again led the way early in the second session with Marinescu, Brutschin and Hector Hurst all following closely. As the session continued 19-year-old Hurst, who raced in Formula Renault BARC this year, found his stride putting in consistent lap times to be running in the top three.

Ghirelli then moved into the top five followed by two-time McLaren Autosport Award finalist Scott Malvern with the 22-year-old continuing to improve after running an impressive eighth fastest yesterday.

Session three saw Liberati lead the way for much of the 55-minute stint with the 19-year-old putting in consistent lap times with Hurst and Marinescu also running well in the session. Proceedings were briefly interrupted following a red flag caused by Radola spinning at Turn 9 but quickly resumed at which point newcomer Tuscher went top on his F2 test debut. The Frenchman, who this year won the Formula Pilota China series, used new tyres to put in a superb 1:38.468s which remained unbeaten for the session. Liberati ended second with Hurst, also on new rubber, in third and Marinescu and Zanella completing the top five.

The day’s final stint saw the drivers able to use their overboost facility with some choosing to remain in the pits early on as they waited for a clear track. By the mid-way point it was Tuscher who was once again lighting up the timing screens and the first driver to dip into the 1:37s with Liberati, Zanella, Hurst and Marinescu all following closely.

A spin by Hurst exiting the last corner saw the session briefly halted before the green flags were waved with 10 remaining on the clock. With many drivers just about to start their final run though, the interruption meant the last few minutes saw a scramble to regain good track position and avoid traffic.

Zanella, Marinescu, Tuscher and Pommer all enjoyed their time at the top of the timesheets as each bettered the previous driver’s time but it was the German who took the honours – by a mere 0.033s – ahead of the Swiss and the Romanian with Tuscher impressing with fourth slot.

Meanwhile, Brutschin completed a successful debut test to go sixth overall for the day with Brit McKenzie seventh and Kelvin Snoeks eighth. Ghirelli and Tuscher completed the top 10.

Formula Two will be revealing further details on next year’s season shortly with all the information available at www.formulatwo.com

Barcelona winter testing, day two afternoon (combined) results:

1. Christopher Zanella, 1:37.075s
2. Markus Pommer, +0.014s
3. Mihai Marinescu, +0.108s
4. Alex Fontana, +0.258s
5. Edoardo Liberati, +0.304s
6. Riccardo Brutschin, +0.351s
7. Daniel McKenzie, +0.403s
8. Kelvin Snoeks, +0.499s
9. Vittorio Ghirelli, +0.500s
10. Matheo Tuscher, +0.533s

Newcomers impress on first F2 outing in Barcelona

Miki Monras ended the opening day of official Formula Two testing at Barcelona as the quickest man against an impressive field of 18 new and returning drivers.

The Spaniard, who finished fourth in this year’s F2, made use of fresh tyres and cooler temperatures during the first 55-minute session to set a 1:35.950s which wasn’t bettered throughout the day.

Romanian and F2 race-winner Mihai Marinescu finished second for the day with 2011 F2 runner-up Christopher Zanella third overall.

The test, which was split into four sessions, also saw more than half the field making their F2 debut with newcomers including GP3 driver Vittorio Ghirelli, two-time McLaren Autosport Award finalist Scott Malvern and German Markus Pommer among those to impress.

Monras impresses…

The day began in dry but cold conditions with Monras setting an impressive benchmark early on and continuing to look quick with his best time also faster than Mirko Bortolotti’s pole lap from the recent rounds here in October.

Throughout the morning the new drivers continued to improve their lap times with Italy’s Ghirelli, who raced in GP3 this year, and Pommer in particular looking strong, together with Edoardo Liberati who finished fifth in Italian F3.

Frenchman Maxime Jousse, younger brother of 2009 F2 racer Julien, also ran well to lap inside the top three in only his second F2 test after running sixth overall this time last year. German Riccardo Brutschin, who’s father Harold raced with F2 Chief Executive Jonathan in the 1980s, also impressed in the morning stint together with Brits Aaron Steele and Scott Malvern both of whom hope to step up to F2 in 2012.

In the afternoon it was Marinescu who led the way from Monras in the third session with Ghirelli once again impressing as did Malvern, Snoeks, Pommer and Zanella – the latter still suffering from an injury to his right arm following a snowmobile accident, similar to that sustained by F1 returnee Kimi Räikkönen. Alex Fontana, one of four Swiss drivers taking part in the test, also impressed with Croatian newcomer Sasha Radola also finding his stride.

The day’s fourth and final session allowed drivers to use their overboost facility, increasing power output to 500bhp. Newcomer Hector Hurst ran well early on before Pommer replaced him at the top of the timesheets with Fontana, Ghirelli and Brutschin all amongst the front-runners.

In the final few minutes though, Monras, Marinescu and Zanella all posted quick laps with the Spaniard once again taking the honours to round off an impressive performance by the 19-year-old.

Speaking afterwards Monras said: "I really enjoyed the test day. I expected to be quick as it’s my home circuit which I know well and managed to put in some good lap times using new tyres early on. I’m happy with my pace and we’re looking at F2 as an option for next year but we’ll have to see if we can get the budget together."

Ghirelli ended the day fourth overall, with Pommer fifth, Jousse sixth and Malvern seventh. Fontana, Liberati and Snoeks rounded out the top 10.

Meanwhile, 2011 Formula Ford runner-up Jeroen Slaghekke had been scheduled to test but has been forced to postpone his run following an injury sustained to his hand.

Testing continues tomorrow from 9am (local time) with full coverage available on www.formulatwo.com.

Barcelona winter testing, day one results (combined):

1. Miki Monras, 1:35.950s
2. Mihai Marinescu, +0142s
3. Christopher Zanella, +0.583s
4. Vittorio Ghirelli, +0.773s
5. Markus Pommer, +0.924s
6. Maxime Jousse, +1.342s
7. Alex Fontana, +1.489s
8. Scott Malvern, +1.691s
9. Edoardi Liberati, +1.706s
10. Kelvin Snoeks, +1.735s