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F2 testing: Louis Deletraz fastest on first day at Yas Marina

Louis Deletraz topped the first day of Formula 2's post-season test in Abu Dhabi for MP Motorsport, which also had the fastest time in GP3 testing earlier today

Alexander Albon was second quickest for DAMS ahead of Norman Nato, who was driving for Racing Engineering.

With the majority of the field concentrating on long runs during the day's first F2 session - the series alternated with GP3 at the Yas Marina track - most of the drivers set their quickest times during the evening slot.

Deletraz - third quickest for MP in the first session - ended up with the best time of the day, a 1m48.282s, which was 0.802s quicker than the fastest time set by McLaren Formula 1 junior Lando Norris earlier on.

Albon wound up 0.045s adrift on his first time out for DAMS, with Nato's best time 0.23s slower than Deletraz.

Haas F1 junior Santino Ferrucci was fourth fastest for Trident, where he had closed out the second half of the 2017 F2 season after beginning the year racing for DAMS in GP3.

Nyck de Vries recovered from a morning session where he only completed four laps due to an engine problem, to post the day's fifth fastest time for his 2018 team, Prema Racing.

Norris finished the day in sixth place testing for Campos Racing, the team where he made his competitive F2 debut at the 2017 season finale in Abu Dhabi last weekend.

The McLaren F1 junior will race for Carlin in F2 in 2018, but with the British squad taking a sabbatical from the second-tier category this year he has continued to work with Campos.

George Russell - the 2017 GP3 champion for ART - finished the day in seventh for the French squad, ahead of 2017 Russian Time team-mates Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov in eighth and ninth - with the former testing for MP today.

Another Haas F1 junior, Jenzer Motorsport's GP3 race-winner Arjun Maini, rounded out the top 10 for Trident.

Jack Aitken, testing at the same venue where he clinched the 2017 GP3 runner-up spot last weekend, was 11th in the other ART car, with DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi separating him from Nirei Fukuzumi (third in 2017 GP3 standings), who was 13th fastest for Arden.

Day one morning times

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Lando Norris Campos Racing 1m49.084s - 27
2 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 1m49.240s 0.156s 30
3 Louis Deletraz MP Motorsport 1m49.378s 0.294s 14
4 Alexander Albon DAMS 1m49.409s 0.325s 17
5 Santino Ferrucci Trident 1m49.427s 0.343s 21
6 George Russell ART Grand Prix 1m49.434s 0.350s 30
7 Luca Ghiotto MP Motorsport 1m49.505s 0.421s 16
8 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1m49.557s 0.473s 20
9 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1m49.700s 0.616s 21
10 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1m49.796s 0.712s 26
11 Arjun Maini Trident 1m50.128s 1.044s 27
12 Tadasuke Makino RUSSIAN TIME 1m50.362s 1.278s 21
13 Nirei Fukuzumi Arden International 1m50.387s 1.303s 24
14 Rene Binder Rapax 1m50.460s 1.376s 22
15 Ralph Boschung Arden International 1m50.719s 1.635s 24
16 Maximilian Guenther Racing Engineering 1m51.228s 2.144s 20
17 Guanyu Zhou Rapax 1m51.318s 2.234s 19
18 Sean Gelael Prema Racing 1m51.319s 2.235s 18
19 Luis Michael Dorrbecker Campos Racing 1m51.932s 2.848s 30
20 Nyck de Vries Prema Racing 2m09.204s 20.120s 4

Evening times

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Louis Deletraz MP Motorsport 1m48.282s - 15
2 Alexander Albon DAMS 1m48.327s 0.045s 21
3 Norman Nato Racing Engineering 1m48.512s 0.230s 31
4 Santino Ferrucci Trident 1m48.648s 0.366s 23
5 Nyck de Vries Prema Racing 1m48.700s 0.418s 31
6 Lando Norris Campos Racing 1m48.710s 0.428s 27
7 George Russell ART Grand Prix 1m48.805s 0.523s 26
8 Luca Ghiotto MP Motorsport 1m48.842s 0.560s 22
9 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 1m48.848s 0.566s 29
10 Arjun Maini Trident 1m48.889s 0.607s 30
11 Jack Aitken ART Grand Prix 1m49.007s 0.725s 26
12 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 1m49.204s 0.922s 21
13 Nirei Fukuzumi Arden International 1m49.300s 1.018s 27
14 Ralph Boschung Arden International 1m49.531s 1.249s 32
15 Tadasuke Makino RUSSIAN TIME 1m49.577s 1.295s 22
16 Sean Gelael Prema Racing 1m49.799s 1.517s 30
17 Guanyu Zhou Rapax 1m49.803s 1.521s 25
18 Rene Binder Rapax 1m50.821s 2.539s 14
19 Maximilian Guenther Racing Engineering 1m51.638s 3.356s 10
20 Luis Michael Dorrbecker Campos Racing 1m52.147s 3.865s 27


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