Van Hoepen clocks 1:26.776 to lead Barcelona F2 practice

Laurens van Hoepen set the fastest lap in Formula 2 Free Practice at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, posting a 1:26.776 for Trident. Roman Bilinski for DAMS was 0.051 seconds adrift in second, and Alexander Dunne for Rodin Motorsport was third, 0.070 seconds slower after briefly challenging for the top time earlier in the session. Rafael Villagómez and Martinius Stenshorne were fourth and fifth, championship leader Gabriele Minì finished sixth, and Rafael Câmara, Colton Herta, Nikola Tsolov and Sebastián Montoya completed the top ten.

Van Hoepen said the team executed its first push lap well, and that the initial push mattered because the tyres were at their freshest and track grip was highest. He noted Barcelona's warmer conditions made tyre management a bigger factor than during February testing, and that the team still needed to fine-tune the car and get the Pirelli rubber into its ideal operating window. He expects Qualifying, shaped by Soft tyres and evolving track conditions, to be different from Free Practice.

Drivers struggled to get heat into their tyres during the session, which made it hard to improve on lap times. The practice was red-flagged with 12 minutes remaining after Noel León spun and became stuck in the gravel at Turn 3, and no drivers improved their times after the restart. The session provided a competitive but interrupted preview of the pace heading into the Formula 2 weekend in Barcelona. Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 15:55 local time.