Gabriel Minì tops Formula Two’s sole practice session in Monaco. A red flag filled session saw the Italian overcome the disrupted track time.
A Competitive Fight For The Top Step
The opening stages saw the drivers take time to dial in around the streets of Monte Carlo. Times were falling fast with Kush Maini leading the field early on. A stationary Oliver Goethe prevented several drivers from improving. Lauren Van Hoepen looked to be going faster with a purple first sector before coming across the yellow flag.
With Goethe’s stationary car in the swimming pool section a red flag was brought out. The German driver will head into qualifying blind.
Van Hoepen showed competitive speed throughout. He traded the top of the time sheet at the start of the session with Kush Maini multiple times. Last year’s sprint race winner seemed to be on the pace fresh out the blocks. Towards the end of the session, briefly, the Alpine junior went into P1 with a 1:21.829. He was 0.0119 tenths clear of his closest competitor.
Alex Dunne was another driver who looked to be strong. The halfway point saw him trade places several times with Minì . The gap between the two Alpine juniors got as small as under forty thousandths. Dunne finished the session in a promising third.
Traffic also appeared to play its part on the tight twisty streets of Monaco. Maini caught up the back of a slow moving Van Amersfoort much to his dismay. The two Aix drivers seemed to be squabbling for position heading into the chicane and several drivers struggled to find a gap.
Monaco’s Walls Catch Out Villagómez
The second red flag was brought out by Rafael Villagómez. The Mexican driver found the barriers at Casino after going wide into Massenet. With damage to both sides of the car, a disappointed Villagómez hopped out. The driver down in 17th will hope for a better result next time out in qualifying.
The green flag being waved was only brief. A clumsy coming together in the hairpin saw Sebastian Montoya lose a piece of his front wing. The virtual safety car made an appearance as Marshalls had to clear the debris. Another disruption was seen at the very end of the session. Durksen suffered a huge lock up into the run off and took a minute to get going again. The stoppage hindered several drivers with many unable to make noteable improvements.
Multiple drivers suffered lock ups particularly into the Nouvelle chicane. Beganovich, with a tough run of luck this year, locked up during a fast lap. Last year’s Formula Three champion, Rafael Câmara, seemed to get squirmy on the exist of the tunnel losing time down toward the chicane.
Despite disruption, Minì managed to come out on top with a 1:21.809. Maini was twenty thousandths off in P2 and Dunne in P3 just over a tenth from first.