Maini quickest on second Bahrain F2 test day

Maini set a time of 1m42.779s – a second quicker than Nyck de Vries’ Wednesday benchmark – during the opening hour of running at Sakhir, which went unbeaten across the remainder of the day’s action.

Renault F1 reserve driver Jack Aitken was Maini’s closest challenger, finishing 0.224 seconds adrift for ART Grand Prix.

De Vries remained towards the front of the pack, taking third for Prema Racing, with Campos Racing’s Luca Ghiotto fourth.

Charouz Racing System’s Louis Deletraz placed fifth, in front of British youngsters George Russell (ART Grand Prix) and Lando Norris (Carlin), the pair both preparing for their maiden campaign in the series.

Russian Time newcomer Tadasuke Makino split Arden teammates Maximilian Gunther, who was unable to run after lunch due to a suspected mechanical issue, and Nirei Fukuzumi to round out the top 10.

Ex-Manor F1 driver Roberto Merhi was 13th as he continued testing duties for MP Motorsport, while Roy Nissany finished 18th for Campos, the other team yet to finalise its 2018 line-up.

Last year’s runner-up Artem Markelov was a low-key 15th, bringing out one of two red flags when he spun through Turn 8; the other stoppage was triggered by Alexander Albon (DAMS) halting at pit entry.

The quickest times from all drivers came during the morning running, with focus switching to race simulations after the lunch break.

One more day of testing will take place on Friday, ahead of the opening round of the season at the same venue in two weeks’ time.

Pos	Driver	Team	Morning	Afternoon
1	Arjun Maini	Trident	1'42.779	1'46.162
2	Jack Aitken	ART Grand Prix	1'43.003	1'48.354
3	Nyck de Vries	Prema Racing	1'43.080	1'50.814
4	Luca Ghiotto	Campos Racing	1'43.111	1'49.688
5	Louis Deletraz	Charouz Racing System	1'43.145	1'46.737
6	George Russell	ART Grand Prix	1'43.161	1'51.243
7	Lando Norris	Carlin	1'43.212	1'47.431
8	Maximilian Gunther	Arden International	1'43.315	No time set
9	Tadasuke Makino	Russian Time	1'43.415	1'51.217
10	Nirei Fukuzumi	Arden International	1'43.467	1'48.867
11	Antonio Fuoco	Charouz Racing System	1'43.498	1'48.855
12	Nicholas Latifi	DAMS	1'43.520	1'49.796
13	Roberto Merhi	MP Motorsport	1'43.610	1'47.719
14	Sergio Sette Camara	Carlin	1'43.612	1'48.862
15	Artem Markelov	Russian Time	1'43.641	1'50.897
16	Sean Gelael	Prema Racing	1'43.686	1'49.512
17	Santino Ferrucci	Trident	1'43.785	1'45.522
18	Roy Nissany	Campos Racing	1'43.971	1'48.944
19	Alexander Albon	DAMS	1'44.001	1'49.995
20	Ralph Boschung	MP Motorsport	1'44.164	1'45.664