2011 Formula 2 Test of Barcelona (December 13th-14th)
Day One
Miki Monras and Christopher Zanella set the pace over the final two-day Formula 2 test of the season in Barcelona.
Monras took advantage of fresh tyres during cool morning conditions to run quickest setting a time of 1:35.950, with only Mihai Marinescu coming close to toppling the swift Spaniard.
The afternoon sessions saw times fall away somewhat; however that would not stop Christopher Zanella from setting the day’s 3rd best time in the afternoon, albeit with overboost employed bringing the 1.8 litre Audi engine up to 500bhp.
It was a notable performance from Zanella, who is still recovering from a recent snowmobile accident.
Vittorio Ghirelli was the highest finishing F2 débutante on day one. The GP3 runner registered the 4th quickest time overall, pipping Markus Pommer and Maxime Jousse to the top-four.
Pos Driver Time Gap 1. Miki Monras 1m35.950s 2. Mihai Marinescu 1m36.092s + 0.142s 3. Christopher Zanella 1m36.533s + 0.587s 4. Vittorio Ghirelli 1m36.723s + 0.773s 5. Markus Pommer 1m36.874s + 0.924s 6. Maxime Jousse 1m37.292s + 1.324s 7. Alex Fontana 1m37.439s + 1.489s 8. Scott Malvern 1m37.641s + 1.691s 9. Edoardo Liberati 1m37.656s + 1.706s 10. Kelvin Snoeks 1m37.685s + 1.735s 11. Hector Hurst 1m37.710s + 1.760s 12. Riccardo Brutschin 1m37.932s + 1.982s 13. Daniel McKenzie 1m38.726s + 2.774s 14. Aaron Steele 1m39.320s + 3.370s 15. Sasha Radola 1m39.406s + 3.456s 16. Mauro Calamia 1m39.448s + 3.498s 17. Sandro Zeller 1m40.389s + 4.839s 18. Alex Craven 1m43.393s + 7.443s
Day Two
Zanella went on to top day two, with the Formula 2 race winner setting his best time (1:37.075) in the morning.
Markus Pommer made it close though – the German pilot coming within 0.014 of the top spot in the afternoon.
Marinescu fell just over one tenth shy for the second consecutive day, this time assuming 3rd place once the chequered flag flew, while European Formula 3 Open champion, Alex Fontana, claimed 4th, some three-tenths shy of Zanella.
Matheo Tuscher, Edoardo Liberati, Hector Hurst and Marinescu all topped the afternoon “overboost” session at various points, but none were quick enough to topple Zanella’s overall best.
Pos Driver Time Gap 1. Christopher Zanella 1m37.075s 2. Markus Pommer 1m37.089s + 0.014s 3. Mihai Marinescu 1m37.183s + 0.108s 4. Alex Fontana 1m37.333s + 0.258s 5. Edoardo Liberati 1m37.379s + 0.304s 6. Riccardo Brutschin 1m37.426s + 0.351s 7. Daniel McKenzie 1m37.478s + 0.403s 8. Kelvin Snoeks 1m37.574s + 0.499s 9. Vittorio Ghirelli 1m37.575s + 0.500s 10. Matheo Tuscher 1m37.608s + 0.533s 11. James Cole 1m37.743s + 0.668s 12. Scott Malvern 1m38.047s + 0.972s 13. Hector Hurst 1m38.089s + 1.014s 14. Max Snegirev 1m38.141s + 1.066s 15. Mauro Calamia 1m39.050s + 1.975s 16. Sasha Radola 1m39.362s + 2.287s 17. Sandro Zeller 1m40.288s + 3.213s 18. Alex Craven 1m42.613s + 5.538s
Also on track during the second day of the test was reigning Formula 2 champion, Mirko Bortolotti.
The Italian piloted the latest development of the Formula 2 car, proving to be nearly two-seconds quicker than the pace of the “regular” runners.
Bortolotti spent four sessions running through new elements, all of which are set to be implemented for the opening round at Silverstone in April. The series is et to release further details up the upgrade at a later date.
