F2 Testing Heats Up in Abu Dhabi

Three days of Formula 2 running kicked off in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, and the standout of the opening day was Oliver Goethe, who topped the timesheets in both the morning and afternoon sessions.

After a few installation laps, the drivers settled into their full testing programs. Alex Dunn set the initial benchmark with a 1:39.502, closely followed by Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who was just 0.013 seconds behind. Goethe later took control of the leaderboard with a 1:38.979, while Joshua Duerksen and Dunn posted identical times right behind him.

In the second half of the day, the session was briefly halted by red flags when Ritomo Miyata’s car came to a stop in Turn 5. The Hitech TGR machine was quickly recovered, and running resumed. With 30 minutes remaining, teams switched to the SuperSoft tyres, and Goethe once again moved to the top, setting the day's fastest lap 1:37.203.

Colton Herta also took part in the tests as he begins preparing for his debut Formula 2 season. The American completed 83 laps and recorded a best time of 1:39.416.