Oliver Bearman tops the Zandvoort Practice session with a time of 1.22.715 as he continues his impressive rookie season in FIA Formula 2, He was +0.396 clear of Dennis Hauger in his MP Motorsport car.
Isak Hadjar was the first to leave the pitlane in his Hitech GP machine, he will be looking for a good weekend after his clumsy pitlane crash last time out in Belgium.
We have a new mandatory set of tyre compounds for Zandvoort this year, with the drivers being given the Soft and Medium tyre compounds compared to 2022, where they had a step harder in the Pirelli range being given the Medium and Hard compounds.
A huge challenge for this weekend and the teams and drivers will be the super tight pitlane here at Zandvoort, cars are packed nose-to-tail making it so difficult for teams in pitstop scenarios and during Practice and Qualifying sessions.
Joshua Mason made his Formula 2 debut in Spa last time out and from the start, he is the only car out on track giving himself some much-needed mileage in his PHM Racing car.
All but one driver out on track on their first run on the medium compound tyres see’s Oliver Bearman setting the pace with a time of 1.24.528. A very measured and clean lap from the British driver, he has the two ART’s of Martins in P2 and Pourchaire in P3 behind him.
Second push-lap on the medium tyres with the same group of twenty-one drivers out on track and this time Victor Martins had taken his ART to the top of the times by 0.084 from DAMS driver Ayuma Iwasa.
Theo Pourchaire’s second push lap lands him once again within the top 3 and ART showing straight away that they mean business this weekend.
VAR driver Richard Verschoor landed in 16th place for both his and the team’s home race weekend, if it’s anything like Austria then this weekend Richard should have an immense amount of support from the Orange Army. The Dutchman finished P16 for the session.
The driver’s third push on the medium tyres saw Victor Martins make a small mistake into turn 9, running wide and aborting his push-lap. He went further on to make another, going deep and onto the run-off into Turn 11 taking to the escape road.
Meanwhile, Iwasa and Vesti are separated by 0.024 on their latest laps, Dennis Hauger in his MP Motorsport sets the fastest lap with 15 minutes to go in the session with a 1.23.111.
Arthur Leclerc was plagued with issues during the session and only managed to get running in with 15 minutes to go in his DAMS, he was the only car to not be in sequence with the rest at the start of the session.
The Monagasque finished a lowly P19 with a time of 1.24.301 and only completed 11 Laps.
Jak Crawford had a great session with great pace at the start and only a small mistake at turn 9 doing the same as Victor Martins and running wide and out onto the grass, finishing the session in P13 with a time of 1.24.014.
A miscommunication into turn 4, Doohan and Juan-Manuel Correa nearly collide as Doohan tried to get himself out of the way of the VAR driver, no major dramas and both continue onto their out-laps.
A flurry of times at the end of the session saw Olliver Bearman make the biggest jump back up into P1 in his PREMA with a time of 1.22.715, Haugher in P2 +0.396 Vesti in P3 +0.469, Iwasa in P4 +0.640 and Martins in P5 +0.763.
During those series of push-laps, Ralph Boschung dipped a wheel into the grass on entry into the fast right-hander of Turn 7, spinning his Campos Racing machine into the barrier and bringing out the Red Flag and thus concluding the Practice session in Zandvoort.
Image: Formula Motorsport Ltd
