inUncategorized

Formula 2 Qualifying Session: Doohan holds off Vips’ For Second F2 pole At The Spanish Grand Prix

default image

Qualifying saw Jack Doohan line up on pole for the second time in Formula 2. The Australian held a late charge from Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips, which saw the Estonian driver leap up from last to second and ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti in third.

The session got underway, with only 21 drivers taking part. Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung withdrew from the event after suffering from neck pain while jostling for position around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Despite temperatures of almost 40°C, getting tires into their ideal operating window was vital as all drivers prepared for a tight battle around Catalunya.

Carlin’s Liam Lawson kicked off the session by setting a representative time of 1:30.753, which teammate Logan Sargeant immediately beat. Soon after, Théo Pourchaire and Marino Sato quickly jumped to the top of the timing sheets. Jehan Daruvala then set the benchmark to go fastest with a 1:29.512.

While most of the grid clocked in a lap time early on, Marcus Armstrong, Doohan, Felipe Drugovich, and Richard Verschoor decided to wait for more favorable conditions during the mid-point of the session.

Image

Taking advantage of the empty track, Drugovich went aggressive and threw his MP Motorsport car into the final chicane to go three-tenths clear of Daruvala’s benchmark time. However, that time wasn’t destined to last for long as Doohan clocked in a 1:29.147 to pip Drugovich by 0.043 seconds.

The final few minutes of qualifying saw PREMA Racing’s Daruvala and Hauger trading fastest times as they fought for pole position. Doohan had the upper hand for a while before Vesti rose the order into second place.

One driver left who could deny Doohan the two points for pole: HitechGP’s Vips, who was back behind the wheel of the Formula 1 car after his Free Practice debut earlier in the day. Getting over the line just in the nick of time, last-placed Vips pushed it to the limit but couldn’t overhaul Doohan’s time by more than 0.023s and finished second by that narrow margin.

Daruvala eventually had to settle for fourth, ahead of Sargeant and Iwasa. Pourchaire ended the session seventh-fastest with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes in eighth. Calan Williams put in another promising performance for Trident to qualify in ninth, as Drugovich rounded out the top 10.

The Brazilian will line up on the reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race when the lights go out at 5:40 PM local time.

 

Written by John N

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Formula 3: Post-Qualifying Press Conference From Spanish Grand Prix

Formula 2: Post-Qualifying Press Conference From Spanish Grand Prix