The F2 Barcelona-Catalunya GP Free Practice session got underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday. It marked the opening of Round 5 of the 2026 season. Following back-to-back street circuits in Melbourne and Monaco, the teams returned to a permanent track. Much of the grid had already visited Barcelona during pre-season testing. With Qualifying to follow later in the day, the F2 Barcelona-Catalunya GP Free Practice gave drivers the chance to gather crucial setup data.
Gabriele Minì leads the Drivers’ standings by just one point over Nikola Tsolov, with Martinius Stenshorne and Alexander Dunne level in third and fourth. Campos Racing holds the advantage in the Teams’ Championship, 11 points clear of Rodin Motorsport heading into the Barcelona Round.
Slow start to F2 Free Practice in Barcelona
The green light was given and drivers headed out on track from the 45-minute mark. There was no rush to get out early. Teams took a measured approach and focused on saving tyres for the end of the session.
The opening stages were largely quiet. Varrone led the timesheets for an extended period without an official lap time set. Most of the field stayed in the pit lane. It was not until around the 22-minute mark that Tsolov set the first meaningful lap of the session, a 1:39.115. More cars began to filter out shortly after.
Van Hoepen leads as times tumble late in F2 Barcelona-Catalunya GP Free Practice
Once the field got going, lap times fell quickly. Montoya moved into contention with a 1:27.136. Van Hoepen then took over at the top with a 1:26.776.
The gaps were tight throughout. Dunne moved up to second, just 0.070 seconds behind van Hoepen. He then improved further later on. Montoya sat just 0.006 seconds back in P2. Bilinski also made his presence felt, ending up just 0.051 seconds off the leading time.
Bennett dropped down the order after a lap time deletion for track limits. Câmara set a time good enough for P8 on his first flying lap. Meanwhile, Minì was pushing hard during his flying lap but battled oversteer at Turn 3.
Red flag interrupts F2 Free Practice
With just over 10 minutes remaining, Noel León spun into the gravel at Turn 3 on his first flying lap. The red flag came out immediately. León had yet to set a representative lap time, meaning he headed into Qualifying with limited data from the session.
The green flag came out shortly after, giving drivers a brief final window on track. van Hoepen remained at the top. Bilinski held second, with Dunne in third and Villagómez in fourth. Stenshorne, Minì, Câmara, Herta, Tsolov, and Montoya completed the top ten. Gürtler managed to get a lap in right at the end.
With just 0.294 seconds covering the top ten, a close Qualifying session looked certain at the 2026 F2 Barcelona-Catalunya GP at 15:55 local time.
