PREMA drivers Frederik Vesti and Oliver Bearman securely top the Spanish Practice session as Formula 2 returns for Round 7.

The MP driver Daruvala finished the session 0.236 seconds behind Bearman, with his teammate, Dennis Hauger, only 0.088 seconds behind him.

A quiet opening to the Friday Practice session left three cars out on track: Boschung, Cordeel, and Maini for the opening fifteen minutes. The three swapped purple sectors as they navigated the familiar track of Barcelona Catalunya, where the F2 in-season testing sessions had been carried out.

The surge to get in a lap time began at the thirty-minute remaining point as 21 out of 22 cars headed out onto the track. Fittipaldi was the only driver who did not join the group on track, remaining in the pit lane.

The red flag was waved with 24 minutes remaining for Victor Martins who spun through Turn 10, leaving the car stranded in the grass after hitting a sponsorship board. The session stopping left MP drivers Daruvala and Hauger in a provisional 1-2 at a circuit where MP is known to be strong and has shown this in the past.

The session resumed with 15 minutes to go and Driver Championship leader Frederik Vesti set a lap time of 1:26.722, with his PREMA teammate Oliver Bearman close behind in second with a time of 1:26.848. All drivers made an appearance onto the track to complete their flying lap.

However, struggles began as the PHM car of Nissany briefly left the track and Boschung ran wide, being forced to take the escape road to avoid the gravel. This was soon followed by Correa suffering a huge snap of understeer through Turn 14 with all four tyres crossing the white line in one of the only places on the track where drivers could pick up warnings for track limits.

Formula 2 Qualifying takes place at 14:55 pm BST (GMT+1) and is expected to be showing a heightened pace as both F1 and F3 add more rubber onto the track.

By Dakota Nixon and Sub-Edit Jim Kimberley

Image: PREMA Racing