Top 13 inside one second in closely fought session
Alex Fontana finished on top by just 0.036s during Friday's second Formula Two free practice session at Spa, which saw the top 13 drivers separated by less than a second.
The 19-year-old Swiss set a best time of 2:07.039s early in the session and remained unbeaten throughout with fellow countryman Mathéo Tuscher in second and Hector Hurst enjoying a season best of third. Indian driver Parthiva Sureshwaren also enjoyed one of his best results in fourth while championship leader Luciano Bacheta completed the top five.
Fontana, Tuscher and Hurst were all among the early pace-setters around the dry but overcast Belgian F1 track, with Fontana holding the top spot as the session neared its halfway stage.
Just before it did though Kourosh Khani, who was one of several drivers focusing on longer race runs, had a big impact at Eau Rouge causing the session to be red flagged. The Iranian driver was unhurt with the session resuming with around 15 minutes left on the clock.
The best track conditions had now gone though with few drivers able to improve, particularly as light rain was beginning to fall in certain sections of the 7.004km circuit.
Meanwhile, just outside the top five was Brit Daniel McKenzie closely followed by Kevin Mirocha and then newcomer Vittorio Ghirelli who continues to impress on his F2 debut. Mihai Marinescu, also conducting a race simulation, finished P9 with this morning's pace-setter Christopher Zanella completing the top 10.
Today's opening qualifying session gets underway at 09:55 (local time) with full coverage, including live timing, on the F2 website.
F2 Results: Spa - Free practice 2:
1. Alex Fontana, 2:07.039s 2. Mathéo Tuscher, +0.036s 3. Hector Hurst, 0.102s 4. Parthiva Sureshwaren, +0.192s 5. Luciano Bacheta, +0.293s6. Daniel McKenzie, +0.303s7. Kevin Mirocha, +0.430s8. Vittorio Ghirelli, +0.498s9. Mihai Marinescu, +0.585s10. Christopher Zanella, +0.675s11. Axcil Jefferies, +0.680s12. Mauro Calamia, +0.687s 13. Dino Zamparelli, +0.821s14. Markus Pommer, +1.254s15. David Zhu, +1.445s16. Plamen Kralev, +1.483s 17. Max Snegirev, +2.213s 18. Kourosh Khani, +3.377s
