F2 | Bahrain Test, second day: Maloney stands out at the end

The second day of F2 testing in Bahrain was also put on hold, with the artificial lights taking center stage at the end in what turned out to be a much more linear session without the rain that had affected the first day.

The first part of the day saw the riders essentially focusing only on long runs and tire management, a fundamental aspect for teams and riders who must once again discover how to make the most of long-distance tires. Completing the highest number of laps in the morning was Amury Cordeel with Hitech, who put together 37 laps in total, just one more than the rookie Gabriel Bortoleto, ready to defend the colors of Invictia Racing and the dedicated McLaren Academy to young talents.

Good mileage also for Victor Martins and Zak O'Sullivan with the two ARTs, Zane Maloney with the Rodin and the Prema duo of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman, who all completed at least 30 passes. An important opportunity also to make up for the time lost yesterday due to the downpour which certainly made the session particularly scenic, particularly the afternoon one, but which did not allow lapping with the continuity that the riders would have liked.

The afternoon session was instead divided into several programmes, both depending on the phase of the day and the needs of the team. At the beginning of the afternoon, in fact, many drivers dedicated themselves again to testing with more fuel on board, so much so that they lapped around 1:46, therefore with rather high times.

Only towards the end of the day, when the temperatures dropped and many teams had already finished the test program with more fuel in the tank, several riders began to push in search of the time, gradually starting to drop around 1:42. About forty minutes from the end, the best time was still in the hands of Isack Hadjar, who was able to stop the clock at 1:41.921.

When there was just under half an hour left until the checkered flag, the standings started to move, first with Enzo Fittipaldi, able to overtake Hadjar by a few hundredths, then being beaten ten minutes from time by Zane Maloney, who made a multiple attempts with little fuel on board. The Rodin driver won with a time of 1:41.501, ahead of Crawford who took advantage of the final moments of the session to move up to second place with DAMS, but was just over a tenth behind the leader. Third time for Fittipaldi, who lowered his time again with three minutes to go, but without setting a time sufficient to climb to the top.

Maloney was also among the most active riders in the afternoon with 31 laps completed, while the one who completed the most laps was Hadjar with 42 laps, the last to exceed the threshold of 40. Bortoleto also confirmed himself to be very active, continues to accumulate experience in a Formula 2 car ahead of its debut at the end of the month. Similar speech also for Ritomo Miyata, a young man coming from the Japanese Super Formula at his first experience in a competition with a strongly European character.

For the Prema duo it was a day of setup tests. In fact, both Andrea Kimi Antonelli and his teammate Oliver Bearman concluded the second day in the last positions, with a time very far from the top, given that they never went in search of a good time.

The Italian, among other things, was the least active driver in the afternoon session, with only twenty laps under his belt in five different runs, while the young promise of the Ferrari Academy completed nine more, stopping at 29 in total . It is clear that, at this moment, the focus is not so much on the absolute pursuit of the time, an aspect that will probably be tested at the end of the last day, in order to have some references on the behavior of the car with empty tanks, but rather on understanding and the adaptation to the single-seater.

The afternoon session was also interrupted early with two minutes to go following a problem with O'Sullivan's ART, which remained stationary on the track.

The times and laps of the afternoon session: