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In a clean but very close Qualifying session for Formula 2 at Baku, a surprise driver claimed pole position.
Trident’s Richard Verschoor took his second Formula 2 pole position ahead of PREMA’s Kimi Antonelli and ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins.
How it happened
There were thirty minutes on the clock for qualifying at the Baku City Circuit, and the 22 drivers (including three Formula 3 graduates making their debut) didn’t waste any time.
Championship leader Isack Hadjar was the first driver to set a representative lap time, going first overall with a time of 1:57.423. But he didn’t hold that spot for long, as he was displaced all the way down to 11th in a matter of minutes.
Trident’s Verschoor ended his first flying lap on provisional pole, over a second faster than Hadjar’s first lap time.
Drivers went for another lap quickly after their first, and Hadjar’s second lap was only good enough for fourth place. Again he was quickly dropped down the field as drivers behind him improved, but this time no one was fast enough to improve on Verschoor’s provisional pole time except for Verschoor himself, who set a 1:55.655 on his second run.
Martins was in second at the end of the second run of laps, followed by Antonelli, Kush Maini, and PREMA’s newest Formula 2 debutant Gabriele Mini. PREMA announced Mini as a replacement for Bearman following the British driver’s announcement that he would be replacing Kevin Magnussen in the Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend.
There was a lull as drivers crawled back into pit lane, though some stayed out to try to set a lap in clean air. With nine minutes left in the session, everyone was back on track.
After two build laps, everyone was just starting their flying laps as the Red Flag was called out for the Campos teammates Hadjar and Pepe Marti, who both locked up going into Turn 1 and ended up in the barriers side by side.
The Red Flag continued as marshals repaired the barrier and checked the track for any issues, before the session was resumed with just four minutes to go.
With the limited amount of time left, drivers were only able to do one build lap before one final push lap. But that didn’t stop the flurry of improvements on the final set of runs.
Paul Aron was the first to jump up the order, going to third place. Then Maini took provisional pole, before getting almost instantly replaced at the top of the timing sheets by Zane Maloney.
Then it was Antonelli to go first overall, before finally, Verschoor went back to to the top with a lap time of 1:54.857, claiming his second pole position of the year just 0.017s ahead of Antonelli.
Martins followed close behind in third, while Maloney and Maini completed the top five. Then it was Gabriel Bortoleto ahead of Joshua Durksen, as Mini claimed eighth on debut ahead of Jak Crawford. In tenth on his debut was Christian Mansell, who will start on pole position for tomorrow’s reverse grid Sprint. Race.
Full results can be found here.
Feature Image Credit: Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images