Sochi F2: Ghiotto Beats Tsunoda In Practice, Then Causes Red Flag
Hitech driver Luca Ghiotto set the pace in practice for the Formula 2 round at Sochi, but also caused a red flag that brought an early end to the session.
Ghiotto and Carlin's Jehan Daruvala traded times at the highest of the timesheets for the primary three quarters of the session, with Daruvala setting the first pace with a time of 1m50.389s.
The Italian driver lowered the benchmark to 1m49.991s, becoming the primary driver to line a sub-1m50s lap, before Daruvala snatched the highest spot again together with his next flying lap with a 1m49.741s.
Ghiotto's next push lap wasn't ok to topple Daruvala, but with 25 minutes left on the clock the Italian driver set a purple sector one on his thanks to the quickest time of practice - a 1m49.631s.
Five minutes later, Red Bull/Honda junior Yuki Tsunoda lapped the circuit in 1m49.712s to travel second quickest, separating early pacesetters Ghiotto and Daruvala.
Those times remained unbeaten throughout practice, partly thanks to two major interruptions within the final 10 minutes of the session.
Trident driver Marino Sato triggered a virtual safety car when he stopped at the exit of Turn 2 with a clear technical issue.
Then, with but two minutes left on board, Ghiotto spun on the start/finish straight after making excessive use of kerbs exiting the ultimate corner.
While Ghiotto was ready to turn his Hitech around, he subsequently stalled the car, necessitating a red flag that brought an early end to the session.
This meant he remained the quickest driver in practice, beating Tsunoda by 0.081s, with Daruvala another 0.029s behind in third.
ART's Christian Lundgaard finished another tenth adrift in fourth, with championship protagonist Callum Ilott rounding out the highest five for Virtuosi.
Ghiotto's Hitech teammate Nikita Mazepin finished sixth fastest on home turf, before the Charouz driver Pedro Piquet and points leader Mick Schumacher, driving for Prema.
Marcus Armstrong was ninth fastest within the second ART-run car, while Williams development driver Dan Ticktum (DAMS) was classified 10th, some seven tenths down on the quickest time of the session.
Prema driver Robert Shwartzman, who sits fourth within the drivers' standings, could finish no above 12th, but before DAMS' Juri Vips and Virtuosi's Guanyu Zhou, who finished 13th and 14th respectively.
Jake Hughes set the 20th quickest time on his intensify to Formula 2 with HWA, 1.8s off the pace of Ghiotto.
Times -
Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Luca Ghiotto Hitech Grand Prix 1m49.631s
2 Yuki Tsunoda Carlin 0.081s
3 Jehan Daruvala Carlin 0.110s
4 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix 0.227s
5 Callum Ilott UNI-Virtuosi 0.322s
6 Nikita Mazepin Hitech Grand Prix 0.328s
7 Pedro Piquet Charouz Racing System 0.368s
8 Mick Schumacher Prema Racing 0.700s
9 Marcus Armstrong ART Grand Prix 0.756s
10 Dan Ticktum DAMS 0.860s
11 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1.012s
12 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing 1.030s
13 Juri Vips DAMS 1.088s
14 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 1.170s
15 Marino Sato Trident 1.241s
16 Jack Aitken Campos Racing 1.251s
17 Roy Nissany Trident 1.263s
18 Giuliano Alesi MP Motorsport 1.581s
19 Artem Markelov BWT HWA RACELAB 1.778s
20 Jake Hughes BWT HWA RACELAB 1.890s
21 Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System 1.976s
22 Guilherme Samaia Campos Racing 2.680s
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