Monras and Zanella Top Final Formula 2 Test of 2011

2011 Formula 2 Test of Barcelona (December 13th-14th)

Circuit de Catalunya. © Creative Commons / Will Pittenger

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.

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