Devlin DeFrancesco topped the timing sheets at the end of the first pre-season test day in Bahrain, as Kiwi Liam Lawson completed a strong outing.
The initial pace was set by Ferrari junior driver Enzo Fittipaldi, who set a 1:48.469 early on in the session. His team-mate Jake Hughes was forced to miss the first day of testing due to prior commitments. Hughes is slated to return in tomorrow’s afternoon session.
The Hitech Grand Prix duo of Max Fewtrell and Liam Lawson eclipsed Alexander Smolyar at the top of the time sheets before they were both beaten out by both Bent Viscaal and Richard Verschoor from MP Motorsport. Viscaal posted a time of 1:47.146 to finish on top of the morning session.
The afternoon session saw Trident turn up the pace, with Lirim Zendeli topping the time sheets early on. F3 debutant Sophia Florsch proved what she was capable of by taking the top spot away from Zendeli later on in the session.
Lawson briefly set the fastest time of the session – setting the first time below 1m 48 in the session – with team-mate Fewtrell close behind. 2020 Castrol Toyota Racing Series champion and New Zealand Grand Prix winner Igor Fraga then began exchanging fastest laps with DeFrancesco before the red flag was brought out after Theo Pourchaire stopped out on track.
With only three minutes remaining when the session resumed, Lawson – among most others – did not manage to complete a final lap before the chequered flag dropped to complete the afternoon session. It was nevertheless a positive outing for the Kiwi.
DeFrancesco completed the afternoon session the fastest, with Alex Peroni in second and Verschoor third. The second day of testing starts tomorrow at 11pm NZT.