Ollie Bearman topped a frantic practice session in Azerbaijan ahead of Isack Hadjar as FIA Formula 2 returned to life after a month-long break since Australia.
Campos Racing’s Kush Maini set the third fastest time for Campos Racing in the sole Practice session of the weekend.
At the green light, a flurry of cars left the pit lane to gather valuable track time at the Baku City Circuit.
Isack Hadjar set the fastest time early in the session with a 2:01.759 for Hitech as more rubber continued to be laid down.
Eleven minutes into the session, Richard Verschoor broke into the 1:59s for Van Amersfoort, a tenth quicker than Jack Doohan.
Hadjar soon improved once more to set a quicker time than Verschoor with a 1:59.022 before running wide at Turn 16 one lap later, but still holding the session’s fastest time.
After Fredrik Vesti briefly usurped the Red Bull Junior, Hadjar led at the halfway point of the session.
The 18-year-old continued to lead the field with 15 minutes to go with a best lap time of 1:54.882 for Hitech ahead of Dutchman Verschoor.
Zane Maloney ran wide at Turn 2 and eventually got back onto the circuit to continue on with his run.
PREMA’s Fredrik Vesti topped the timesheets with seven minutes remaining before his effort was quickly beaten by his team mate Bearman.
The British driver set a 1:54.457 to head the field on the bumpy streets of Baku.
Ralph Boschung slotted into fourth place, fourth-tenths behind Bearman, before he ran wide at Turn 1.
Indian driver Kush Maini improved to fifth place for Campos, just ahead of team mate Boschung with just four minutes remaining.
The times continued to tumble in the closing stages as Hadjar set a 1:54.295 before he was bested by Bearman at the top of the timesheets.
Boschung improved on his time to go into P4 as the track became more grippy towards the end of the session.
The Swiss driver’s team mate Maini went quicker late on to take the third-fastest time, as Arthur Leclerc spun and stalled on the exit of Turn 1, bringing out the red flags and ending the session with 50 seconds to go.
Image: PREMA Racing
