Championship leader Felipe Drugovich led the way in today’s Free Practice session in Monte Carlo. Clocking in a lap time of 1:21.589, Drugovich’s effort was just enough to hold off Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung, with less than a tenth of a second separating the top four drivers.
It was Hitech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong who set the first representative lap of the 45-minute session. However, times quickly began to tumble as Boschung topped the timing sheets with a 1:26.741.
Traffic typically proved to be a thorn in several drivers’ sides, including Drugovich who was forced to abandon several fast laps after coming across a train of cars at Turn 19. Eventually, the MP Motorsport driver claimed the top of the standings 15 minutes into the session with a time of 1:23.845.
Running was constant throughout the session, with only Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips and Virtuosi Racing’s Marino Sato bringing out yellow flags in Sector 1. Both drivers suffered near-identical front lockups and headed into the run-off at Turn 1, before swiftly getting going again.
Monaco first-timers Dennis Hauger and Jake Hughes put in promising performances to end the session in third and fourth, behind the pair of Drugovich and Boschung. Carlin’s Liam Lawson was fifth ahead of Jack Doohan.
Jehan Daruvala finished seventh, ahead of Logan Sargeant and Richard Verschoor. Théo Pourchaire, who took his maiden F2 pole position in the Principality last season, rounded up the top 10.
The F2 grid will be back in action tomorrow morning for the Qualifying session which will be split into two groups. Group A will consist of all odd-numbered cars and will get the session underway at 11:40 local time, with all even-numbered cars running in Group B at 12:04 local time.