Arden’s Norman Nato clocked the quickest time as the opening three-day Formula 2 pre-season test came to a conclusion at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Wednesday.
Nato, returning to the team with which he spent his rookie GP2 campaign in 2015, set a time of 1:27.834 during the morning session to finish 0.054 clear of DAMS’ Oliver Rowland.
ART’s Alexander Albon was the only other driver to register a lap in the 1:27s as he placed third, in front of McLaren-backed Rapax newcomer Nyck de Vries.
Russian Time finished fifth and sixth with Luca Ghiotto in front of the experienced Artem Markelov, while Sean Gelael took seventh for Arden and Nicholas Latifi claimed eighth for DAMS.
Prema’s Ferrari junior drivers Charles Leclerc and Antonio Fuoco rounded out the top 10 as the quick times came during the morning session, with drivers concentrating on longer runs in the afternoon.
MP’s Sérgio Sette Câmara was 11th, ahead of Ralph Boschung (Campos), Johnny Cecotto Jr. (Rapax), Louis Delétraz (Racing Engineering) and Jordan King, the former Manor development driver taking 15th place.
Racing Engineering’s Gustav Malja took 16th, in front of Sergio Canamasas – who has yet to conclude a deal with Trident – and McLaren-Honda development driver Nobuharu Matsushita.
Former Manor Marussia F1 racer Roberto Merhi took a lowly 19th for Campos, 1.6s off the pace, ahead of only Nabil Jeffri, as he evaluates a full-time drive in the category this season.
Formula 2's final pre-season test will take place in Bahrain from March 29 to 31, ahead of the opening round of the season in April, in support of Formula 1.
