Sixteen drivers ran the second Formula 2 test at Barcelona yesterday and once again; it was Jack Clarke and Martin Brundle that set the quick pace, with César Ramos joining them at the top in the evening.
Indeed Clarke was much faster than any of his competitors in the morning, as he registered a lap well half-a-second quicker than next man up, Ramón Piñeiro – his time of 1:37.121 would eventually be the quickest of the entire day.
Ramos and Bulgarian pilot Mihai Marinescu were the only drivers that were within one second of Clarke as the chequered flag emerged. Alex Brundle finished the session 5th quickest; however his best time was set on old rubber, while those quicker ran on fresher Avon tyres.
Brundle rectified his position in the afternoon session, going fastest ahead of the 2010 Formula Palmer Audi Champion Nigel Moore by a mere 0.018-of-a-second. Both Clarke and Marinescu also ran Brundle close, as the chasing pair registered times less than one-tenth slower than the wily Brundle. Ramón Piñeiro took 5th spot with a time 0.217-of-a-second slower than the leading Briton.
Brundle didn’t have it all his own way throughout the afternoon, as several drivers occupied the top spot; however he was still able to set competitive times in the afternoon, despite running in two separate cars. Benjamin Lariche was an early pacesetter before he dropped down the order to 6th – he set his fast early, but was unable to improve from that point on. Eventually the top ten all secured laps less than one second slower than Brundle.
Formula 2 débutante, Ramos improved on his earlier runs by claiming the top spot in the final run of 2010, but once again it was a close run thing as the top-six were covered by a quarter-of-a-second.
The impressive Brazilian headed Piñeiro by only 0.015 at the chequered flag, with Jack Clarke (3rd), Alex Brundle (4th) and Christopher Zanella (5th) behind and separated by mere thousandths. Lariche held onto 6th with his quickest run – the Frenchman securing a solid advantage over Marinescu (7th) and Moore (8th).
It could have been a better result for Brundle. The 20-year-old set the quickest time, only for it to be waved off by an emergent red flag. In fact, the session was stopped twice as once again Thiemo Storz beached himself in the gravel and Jukka Honkavuori spun his Williams JPH1 in the long bend that makes turn three.
Day Two, Morning Session:
1 Jack Clarke, 1:37.121s
2 Ramón Piñeiro, +0.537s
3 César Ramos, +0.821s
4 Mihai Marinescu, +0.983s
5 Alex Brundle, +1.183s
6 Christopher Zanella, +1.283s
7 Kelvin Snoeks, +1.591s
8 Benjamin Lariche, +1.666s
9 Max Snegirev, +1.751s
10 Thiemo Storz, +1.864s
Day Two, Afternoon Session:
1 Alex Brundle, 1:39.056s
2 Nigel Moore, +0.018s
3 Jack Clarke, +0.057s
4 Mihai Marinescu, +0.062s
5 Ramón Piñeiro, +0.217s
6 Benjamin Lariche, +0.503s
7 Christopher Zanella, +0.581s
8 Thiemo Storz, +0.721s
9 César Ramos, +0.869s
10 Max Snegirev, +0.870s
Day Two, Evening Session:
1 RAMOS, César 1:37.843s
2 PIÑEIRO, Ramón +0.015s
3 CLARKE, Jack +0.067s
4 BRUNDLE, Alex +0.111s
5 ZANELLA, Christopher +0.125s
6 LARICHE, Benjamin +0.262s
7 MARINESCU, Mihai +0.451s
8 MOORE, Nigel +0.460s
9 CAMMISH, Daniel +0.737s
10 QING HUA, Martin +1.233s
