Leonardo Fornaroli becomes the first repeat polesitter this F2 season after taking pole position around the Red Bull Ring with a strong 1:15.229. The rookie will be fighting to grab his first win this weekend at the Austrian GP.
The McLaren junior, Alex Dunne, topped the practice session earlier today, with a 1:16.121 around the Red Bull Ring. Qualifying around this track was expected to be close, and the favourite for pole position could change at any moment. As the 30-minute session began, the F2 grid prepared for a tense qualifying battle.
First Flying Laps
Hitech’s Luke Browning led the pack and was the first to set a flying lap six minutes into the qualifying session. While Browning’s lap was quite solid, he experienced a lot of understeer in Turn 4 that possibly slowed him down as he had to make adjustments. Finishing his lap with a time of 1:16.111, the other drivers were close behind as Montoya immediately set a 1:16.002, then was bumped down by his teammate Mini, who went even faster with a lap of 1:15.888.
Fornaroli was quick to follow the pack, setting a strong lap of 1:15.574 and topping the timing sheet. The Italian was followed by Durksen, who was 0.177 s off the fastest time, and Victor Martins, 0.196 s behind.
While most of the field was setting their initial laps, Shields was unlucky, going wide and bouncing over the gravel trap at Turn 9. Browning’s second flying lap looked a bit quicker in the first sector; however, the Hitech driver seemed to struggle through the second and third sectors, not being able to improve his time.
Going wide
The drivers appeared eager to push around the Red Bull Ring. However, plenty of the drivers found themselves pushing too hard and going wide in Turns 9 and 10.
Several drivers exceeded track limits in their push laps, with Turn 9 and Turn 10 catching out many, including Montoya and Lindblad. Both drivers had been showing immense pace until their laps were undone.
The session was quite tough for Alex Dunne. Despite topping FP, the McLaren junior struggled for grip and ended outside the top ten in qualifying.
Out of the pits and pushing
With 15 minutes left on the clock, all the drivers went to the pit. Gabriele Mini headed into the pit lane, where the team adjusted his rear suspension. The majority of the teams took their time in the pits before releasing their drivers. With about ten minutes left on the clock, they were ready to go again.
While the drivers were in the pits, Shields was also noted for a pit entry infringement and will face a post-session investigation
In the last five minutes, Crawford was the first to cross the line with a 1.15.757. However, he was beaten immediately by Richard Verschoor. Who crossed the line after finishing a great lap, and setting the time of 1.15.253. Soon after, Victor Martins crossed the line, going one hundredth faster than Verschoor, with a 1.15.243.
With less than two minutes left on the clock, Fornaroli looked to be flying across the line. The Italian set purple sectors in the first and middle sectors and bumped Martins down to P2. Martins was able to keep his P2, and was followed closely by Verschoor in P3.
With just 0.024s covering the top three, the Red Bull Ring delivered one of the tightest qualifying sessions of the season. Fornaroli now has his second pole of the year, while Martins will start on the front row for a fifth time, still chasing his first win of the campaign
Provisional Qualifying Results:
- L. Fornaroli
- V. Martins
- R. Verschoor
- G. Mini
- A. Cordeel
- R. Stanek
- A. Dunne
- J. Durksen
- J.M. Marti
- J. Bennett
- S. Montoya
- A. Lindblad
- R. Miyata
- S. Meguetounif
- J. Crawford
- O. Goethe
- L. Browning
- K. Maini
- M. Esterson
- R. Villagomez
