2016 MRF Challenge – Newey Fastest in Dubai

Newey Comfortably Tops Free Practice in Dubai

Harrison Newey, son of legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey, comfortably topped both practice sessions for Round 2 of the MRF Challenge 2016 at the Dubai Autodrome. He was faster than Felipe Drugovich and Juri Vips in FP1. In FP2, he was ahead of Drugovich and Joey Mawson. Newey set a blistering pace going half a second faster than his nearest rival in both sessions. His lap time is 3 seconds faster than the times in practice last year showing a vastly improved MRF F2000.

In the opening practice session of the weekend it was newcomer Mawson who was the first to set a competitive time with 20 minutes remaining on the clock. He set a 2:01.345 to go top of the leader board. Newey then began a string of fastest laps which saw going fastest with a 1:59.772. With 5 minutes to go, he again went fastest to finish with a 1:58.231. Brazilian Drugovich was half a second slower with a 1:58.771. He was followed by Juri Vips, Mawson and Kimi Schramm. Championship leader Mick Schumacher had a quiet session and finished down in 6^th position.

Free practice 2 saw Mawson wasting no time in getting up to speed and was again one of the front runners to go fastest with a 1:59.883. Newey continued to show impressive pace and immediately went faster with a 1:58.976. Newey once again proved to be too fast as he was the only driver to dip into the 1min 57sec lap when he set a 1:57.942 to go fastest. Drivers behind him continued to improve but the closest anyone could get was Drugovich again with a 1:58.642, albeit a full six tenths off the pace. Mawson finished in 3^rd place ahead of Schumacher and Van Kalmthout. Indian driver Parth Ghorpade finished at the back of the grid as he spent time familiarizing himself with the car, after being out of a racing car for more than a year.

Harrison Newey commented, “It was a real pleasure to drive out there. The car felt really good and quick. This circuit is quite challenging for the drivers so it is important to concentrate the whole time. We have to ensure that we carry this momentum tomorrow as starting in front will be critical. I will now work with the engineers to make sure we have the best possible setup for tomorrow.”

Qualifying and Races 1&2 will take place on Friday, December 9, with Races 3&4 taking place on Saturday, December 10.