It was a successful day for Formula 2 veteran Luca Ghiotto, who topped the time sheets on the final day of F2 pre-season testing. The same cannot be said for Kiwi Marcus Armstrong, who once again failed to break into the top ten in either session.
Jehan Daruvala built on his momentum from day two to lead the timing sheets at the start of the morning session, with Giuliano Alesi and Yuki Tsunoda trailing in second and third. The morning saw most drivers completing long runs and race simulations, leaving Daruvala virtually unopposed for the rest of the session.
Daruvala finished on top for the morning session, with Alesi and Tsunoda retaining their top three positions. Behind them was Artem Markelov and Louis Deletraz.
When the final session begun for pre-season testing, with Robert Shwartzman who was the first to lay down a marker, taking an early lead in the timing sheets with a 1:43.028. Moments later however, he would be pipped by team-mate Mick Schumacher, who posted the first time below 1m 43s for the day. This sparked a battle between the two for the top spot on the leaderboard, which was eventually resolved in favor of the German.
At the halfway mark, Ghiotto and Jack Aitken utilized their experience to take the top two positions on the leaderboard – Ghiotto setting the fastest time overall in pre-season testing, and eventually the fastest for the afternoon session.
Felipe Drugovich nestled into second place as the rookie began to find his feet in the MP Motorsport car. Aitken retained third, with Schumacher in fourth and Nobuharu Matsushita fifth.
Armstrong finished the morning and afternoon sessions in 19th and 22nd respectively.
With pre-season testing complete for Formula 2, the next outing for the category will be the first round of the championship in Bahrain on March 20-22.
