Pepe Martí concludes the three days of pre-season testing in Bahrain with a great learning experience, after several setbacks and with a very positive last day.
The Catalan driver, without having lapped too much, finishes sixth on the third day with good race simulations and gaining experience with the new car.
"Overall it has been a very progressive day. The first two days we had some reliability issues, so I was not able to run too much until the third and last day.... I am happy with the performance, I felt comfortable with the car and the long runs were very competitive."
The Formula 2 pre-season testing has come to an end and the only thing left to do is to wait for the moment of truth. The three days of testing have given rise to all kinds of situations but with a fortunate ending for the 18 year old driver.
The first day was marked by a heavy downpour that prevented the drivers from running normally. Pepe and Campos Racing had to deal with several mechanical problems and could only drive a total of 5 laps in these extreme conditions.
The same happened on the second day, when there was also a lot of work inside the pit box during the morning trying to solve the technical issues that arose.
On the third day everything worked perfectly and allowed him to run without problems all day.
In this way, the Catalan driver was able to carry out a complete work being at all times among the first drivers, achieving an encouraging sixth place in the overall standings.
Pepe achieved very good race simulations, gaining experience at the wheel of the new Formula 2 car, and achieving a very good tyre management.
This is how Pepe assesses the three days of work: "In general, it has been three days of great progress. The first two days we had some reliability issues on the car, so we couldn't do a lot of laps until the third and last day. I did the least amount of laps by far. It's a pity to lose so much track time, because with the limited testing we have, it's totally out of our control. However, I am happy with the performance of the last day, I felt comfortable in the car and the long runs were very competitive. The morning run was particularly good! We did a lot of tests, some of them worked well from the start, others not so much, but that's what testing is all about. It's a process of learning and understanding the car and making steps forward throughout the year. I hope we will be competitive at the first race in Bahrain, but we won't really know where we are until qualifying. I want to thank my team and the Red Bull Junior Team for all their hard work because I think we are a good team and we have a good platform to work on. We have managed to improve the car a lot since the Shakedown in Barcelona. I'm really looking forward to the first race".
The first race will start next Friday 29 February at the same venue of the Sakhir circuit.