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Lando Norris has claimed the honours for session 1 of the first day of 2017 post-season testing at the Yas Marina Circuit, topping the timesheets just after the halfway mark in a session largely focused on race simulations with a time of 1:49.084, grabbing P1 by over a tenth from Jack Aitken and Louis Delétraz.

The session opened to the usual warm and sunny conditions, with all of the field heading straight out on track as the lights went green to get prepared for the runs to come. Santino Ferrucci set the first competitive time at the 15 minute mark, but with most of the teams concerned more on their long run pace there was little competition for the top of the timesheets.

Unfortunately for Nyck De Vries he didn’t get to spend much time in his new car: the Dutchman returned to the pits after just 2 laps with an engine gremlin, with his mechanics swarming the car before quickly concluding that his session was already over.

Aitken grabbed the top spot just after the half hour mark, with Alex Albon slotting into P2 a little while later, but at the halfway mark Norris grabbed P1 and held it for the remainder of the session, withDelétraz popping into P3 just before the 2 hour mark.

Albon and Ferrucci lead the way behind the top 3, ahead of George Russell, Luca Ghiotto, Norman Nato, Nicholas Latifi and vice-champion Artem Markelov: the afternoon session with start in at 17.15 (GMT+4), or just 3 hours from now.

Day 1 Morning results

 

Driver

Team

Laptime

Laps

1.

Lando Norris

Campos Racing

1:49.084

27

2.

Jack Aitken

ART Grand Prix

1:49.240

30

3.

Louis Delétraz

MP Motorsport

1:49.378

14

4.

Alexander Albon

DAMS

1:49.409

17

5.

Santino Ferrucci

Trident

1:49.427

21

6.

George Russell

ART Grand Prix

1:49.434

30

7.

Luca Ghiotto

MP Motorsport

1:49.505

16

8.

Norman Nato

Racing Engineering

1:49.557

20

9.

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

1:49.700

21

10.

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

1:49.796

26

11.

Arjun Maini

Trident

1:50.128

27

12.

Tadasuke Makino

RUSSIAN TIME

1:50.362

21

13.

Nirei Fukuzumi

Arden International

1:50.387

24

14.

Rene Binder

Rapax

1:50.460

22

15.

Ralph Boschung

Arden International

1:50.719

24

16.

Maximilian Gűnther

Racing Engineering

1:51.228

20

17.

Guanyu Zhou

Rapax

1:51.318

19

18.

Sean Gelael

PREMA Racing

1:51.319

18

19.

Michael Dorrbecker

Campos Racing

1:51.932

30

20.

Nyck De Vries

PREMA Racing

2:09.204

4

 

source: fiaformula2.com

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Prema is proud to announce the completion of the team's line-up for the 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship with the addition of talented Dutch racer Nyck de Vries.

The 22-year-old driver is part of the McLaren Young Driver Programme and will be lining up for his second year in F2 competition. As confirmed by the arrival of Indonesian racer Sean Gelael, for 2018 Prema will be relying on experience in an effort to speed up the development of the brand-new, turbo-powered Dallara racecar.

A multiple karting world champion, De Vries started racing single seaters in 2012 and made his way throughout the Formula Renault rankings, winning the Eurocup and Alps titles in 2014 and ending up third in the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5.

After a stint in the GP3 Series, he made his Formula 2 debut this year, capturing an outstanding maiden win at his third appearance, in Monte Carlo.

He will be joining the team, together with his new team-mate, in the collective round of post-season testing set to go underway this week at Yas Marina Abu Dhabi.

René Rosin – Team Principal: "We are delighted to have secured the services of Nyck for the 2018 Formula 2 season. His skills are outstanding and we hope that, together with Prema, he will be able to make the most out of his talent and fight for the title, while helping us to get a head start for the new season."

"I'm really looking forward to seeing our great and well-sorted pairing on-track”

Nyck De Vries: "First of all, I want to thank everyone involved for this opportunity. I am delighted to join such a successful team as Prema and I thank them for putting their faith in me. We have known each other for a while, so to finally be racing together is very exciting and I can’t wait to go back to Italy."

"We’re very much looking forward to the new challenges that the FIA Formula 2 has introduced with the new car for 2018. It will be a very competitive championship, may the best win!”

Eric Boullier, McLaren Racing Director, commented: “Nyck is a valued and popular member of McLaren’s Young Driver programme."

"We are delighted he will continue in F2, consolidating his performance in last year’s series. His experience will be an advantage and stand him in good stead for 2018.”

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The post-season FIA Formula 2 Championship test opens tomorrow, 30th November, at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, a three day test at the venue of last weekend’s final round of the 2017 season which will be the first opportunity for some drivers to work with their new teams, and others to be evaluated for a potential race seat for the 2018 season.

The teams will run on Thursday and Friday from 11.45 to 14.15 and then 17.15 to 19.45, with running on Saturday from 10.40 to 13.10 and 18.30 to 21.00 (all times local, GMT +4), and they will be allocated 7 sets of medium compound Pirelli tyres per car across the 3 days.

The test will be the last running for the existing car, with the new F2 2018 being delivered to the teams early in the new year ahead of a shakedown and pre-season tests, the details of which are currently being finalised. It will also be the last opportunity for the current teams’ entries to run, with the new entry list taking over in January.

Recent signings Sean Gelael and Nyck De Vries will test with their new team PREMA Racing, while the top 3 drivers from GP3, George Russell, Jack Aitken and Nirei Fukuzumi, along with race winner Arjun Maini will all step up to Formula 2 teams.                                                                                                    

Also running alongside the Formula 2 returnees will be FIA Formula 3 drivers Maximilian Gunther, Tadasuke Makino andGuanyu Zhou, all hoping to impress the teams.                                                                         

FIA Formula 2 Championship, Abu Dhabi Post-Season Test: Day 1 Driver Entry List

CAR NO.

DRIVER

LICENSE

TEAM NAME

1

Sean Gelael

IDN

PREMA Racing

2

Nyck De Vries

NLD

PREMA Racing

3

Norman Nato

FRA

Racing Engineering

4

Maximilian Gunther

DEU

Racing Engineering

5

Tadasuke Makino

JPN

RUSSIAN TIME

6

Artem Markelov

RUS

RUSSIAN TIME

7

Jack Aitken

GBR

ART Grand Prix

8

George Russell

GBR

ART Grand Prix

9

Alexander Albon

THA

DAMS

10

Nicholas Latifi

CAN

DAMS

11

Lando Norris

GBR

Campos Racing

12

Michael Dorrbecker

MEX

Campos Racing

14

Luca Ghiotto

ITA

MP Motorsport

15

Louis Delétraz

CHE

MP Motorsport

16

Arjun Maini

IDN

Trident

17

Santino Ferrucci

USA

Trident 

18

Guanyu Zhou

CHN

Rapax

19

René Binder

AUT

Rapax

20

Nirei Fukuzumi

JPN

Arden International

21

Ralph Boschung

CHE

Arden International

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Charles Leclerc topped off his championship run with victory in the final race of the 2017 Formula 2 Championship this afternoon for the sprint race at the Yas Marina Circuit, slicing through his rivals all race long before mugging race leader Alexander Albon last time through on the long straight and running all the way to the flag ahead of Albon and Nicholas Latifi.

The race opened to the usual sunny conditions, but poleman Jordan King was unable to take advantage of his position: when the lights went out he bogged down, allowing ART teammates Albon and Nobuharu Matsushita to lead Latifi into turn 1, with the Canadian mugging the Japanese driver at the next corner as they led Nyck De Vries, Leclerc, King, Luca Ghiotto, a fast starting Sergio Sette Camara and Artem Markelov around the circuit, before the later pair switched places at turn 8.

Albon set about building his lead, quickly breaking the DRS tow to Latifi as the positions shook out behind him.

Markelov and Ghiotto were on a charge as they looked to close out the Teams’ title, and the pair ran either side of King on the back straight, with the Russian brushing King’s tyre, sending him off track with a puncture.

The pair soon had a new threat: Oliver Rowland had made astonishing progress from the back of the grid to sit behind them, with Markelov playing rear gunner to allow his teammate to try to progress with his own championship fight.

Leclerc was also moving forward, and on lap 11 he was all over the rear of De Vries’ car: the champion wasted little time in moving up to P4 before eying his next challenge, bringing home a double podium in his final event. It only took 3 laps for the Sauber test driver to catch and pass Matsushita, whetting his appetite for more.

Ghiotto was the only other driver capable of running at Leclerc’s pace, having also blown by the ailing De Vries, but Matsushita was in a determined mood, parrying every attack as the pair fought all the way to the flag. Latifi succumbed to the inevitable attack with 4 laps to go, and with Leclerc closing down the gap to Albon the stage was set for a barnstorming final few laps.

Albon’s job was made a little easier by yellow flags on the back straight down to the marina for debris in the area, shutting down the 2nd DRS zone and cancelling one area of attack.

If Leclerc was going to win he needed to make the pass earlier in the lap, but as the laps rolled down the Monegasque was running out of options: he launched an attack up the inside ahead of the long straight, clattered into the race leader, and the pair ran side by side all the way down to turn 8.

Leclerc had the inside line and just squeaked through, and with no 2nd DRS zone Albon had no way to fight back: the pair crossed the line 1s apart, with Latifi 2s further back to round out the final podium of the year ahead of Matsushita and Ghiotto; Markelov held off Rowland for P6, and Sette Camara grabbing the last point for 8th place.

Charles Leclerc extended his points score as champion to 72 points, with Artem Markelov finishing as vice-champion ahead of Oliver Rowland and Luca Ghiotto, and RUSSIAN TIME celebrated their Teams’ title win, finishing the 2017 FIA Formula 2 season 15 points ahead of PREMA Racing and DAMS.

source: fiaformula2.com

 

         

 

 

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