Oliver Bearman tops Free Practice ahead of Victor Martins in Jeddah.
Martins was the quickest driver after the first runs in this morning’s Free Practice session. The ART Grand Prix driver set a 1:43.739.
Bearman had a moment at Turn 2. The rear of the car stepped out on the young British driver but he managed to catch it before hitting Jeddah’s infamous walls.
The opening stages of Free Practice were incident free as the drivers used the 45 minute session to learn the track. Stanek referred to the difficulty of the circuit in an interview saying, “we will keep running to build the confidence up”.
Ten of this year’s drivers haven’t driven the Jeddah Corniche Circuit before today. The track is regarded by the drivers as one of the most challenging due to its fast nature and narrow walls.
Arthur Leclerc was greeted by a snap of oversteer in his entry to Turn 21. He narrowly missed the wall and continued his run after recovering the car at Turn 22.
Bearman displaced the fastest lap from the first runs by putting in a 1:43.501, two tenths of a second faster than Martins.
With 6 minutes remaining, Kush Maini felt he was held up by a slow moving Roy Nissany on the racing line. The Campos driver showed his frustrations in the car before eventually overtaking him a few moments later.
Amaury Cordeel brought out the red flag with just under 5 minutes left on the clock. He hit the wall on the exit of Turn 13 which sent him into a spin before finding himself stuck sideways on the track. The session would not be restarted as the marshals recovered the car.
Qualifying starts at 18:00 local time under the lights.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited
