Stoneman fastest as F2 test concludes

The 19-year-old series newcomer had set the fourth quickest time on Tuesday, but improved to set the fastest time of the two-day test - a 58.535s - on Wednesday morning.

"I'm happy with today," said Stoneman. "I have been concentrating on my own programme, but it is still good to go fastest. We tried out a new tyre just to see where we stood and how they affected the set-up of the car, and it seemed that today's early conditions were better than yesterday.

"You don't really ever know what to expect until the first qualifying session of the first round, but I'm here to win and I'll certainly be going all out for the championship."

Sergei Afanasiev and Jolyon Palmer, who was quickest on Tuesday, both got within a tenth of Stoneman's time but neither could topple Stoneman.

Johan Jokinen was fourth, ahead of Armaan Ebrahim and Tom Gladdis.

The final pre-season F2 test takes place at Silverstone next Monday, ahead of the opening round of the championship at the circuit the following weekend, April 18.

Pos Driver                   Time/Gap
 1. Dean Stoneman             58.535s
 2. Sergei Afanasiev           +0.066
 3. Jolyon Palmer              +0.099
 4. Johan Jokinen              +0.331
 5. Armaan Ebrahim             +0.336
 6. Tom Gladdis                +0.387
 7. Mihai Marinescu            +0.602
 8. Paul Rees                  +0.662
 9. Jack Clarke                +0.667
10. Benjamin Bailly            +0.694
11. Will Bratt                 +0.695
12. Nicola de Marco            +0.707
13. Philipp Eng                +0.737
14. Ivan Samarin               +1.153
15. Ricardo Teixeira           +1.198
16. Benjamin Lariche           +1.231
17. Natalia Kowalska           +1.234
18. Jose Alonso Liste          +1.277
19. Kelvin Snoeks              +1.284
20. Parthiva Sureshwaren       +1.454
21. Plamen Kralev              +1.895
22. Ajith Kumar                +2.631