F2 Australia: Iwasa secures pole in disrupted wet qualifying
Ayumu Iwasa secured his third Formula 2 pole position in a disrupted wet qualifying session at Albert Park.
Ayumu Iwasa, DAMS
Formula Motorsport Ltd
The DAMS driver was quick from the off, tackling torrential downpours before setting a 1m45.118s to top the timesheets for his first pole position since Abu Dhabi last season.
He went quickest at the halfway mark and despite being briefly demoted by ART driver Theo Pourchaire, reclaimed the top spot before a crash from third-placed Victor Martins saw the session end early.
Home favourite Jack Doohan, who led the morning's practice session, was first out amid torrid conditions, telling his engineer that he was aquaplaning before adding "it is so bad."
By the time he had made it to the end of his first lap, the session had been stopped, with crashes throughout the field.
Ollie Bearman had a huge shunt into the wall along the back straight in his Prema-run car, smashing his front wing on the way to Turn 9, but was able to rejoin the session after the stoppage.
DAMS driver Arthur Leclerc had a spin at Turn 9, with fellow rookie Jak Crawford (Hitech) losing a front wing.
After a 15-minute stoppage, the rain had somewhat subsided, and despite poor visibility, the session resumed.
Alpine Academy member Doohan set an early benchmark of 1m52.238s before Saudi Arabia feature race winner Frederik Vesti surpassed him by two seconds.
Doohan improved the next time around but was quickly toppled by Isack Hadjar (Hitech) as Martins slotted into second.
Despite the Virtuosi driver continuing to improve, Iwasa took the lead at the halfway mark with a 1m46.376s.
Martins put in the first sub-1m46s lap to take the lead next, with a 1m45.736s, before team-mate Pourchaire went quicker by 0.001s.
It was Iwasa who was faster though, shaving 0.6s off Pourchaire's time to lead before a crash from Martins at Turns 5 and 6 ended the session with three minutes remaining.
Hadjar will line up fourth ahead of fellow rookie Zane Maloney (Rodin Carlin), with Bearman sixth.
Dennis Hauger will start on reverse-grid pole for Saturday's sprint race for MP Motorsport ahead of Kush Maini (Campos Racing) and Leclerc.
Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Ayumu Iwasa
|
DAMS | 13 | 1'45.118 | |
2 |
Theo Pourchaire
|
ART Grand Prix | 12 | 1'45.732 | 0.614 |
3 |
Victor Martins
|
ART Grand Prix | 12 | 1'45.736 | 0.618 |
4 |
Isack Hadjar
|
Hitech Pulse-Eight | 13 | 1'46.037 | 0.919 |
5 |
Zane Maloney
|
Rodin Carlin | 13 | 1'46.045 | 0.927 |
6 |
Oliver Bearman
|
Prema Powerteam | 12 | 1'46.058 | 0.940 |
7 |
Arthur Leclerc
|
DAMS | 13 | 1'46.309 | 1.191 |
8 |
Kush Maini
|
Campos Racing | 12 | 1'46.530 | 1.412 |
9 |
Jak Crawford
|
Hitech Pulse-Eight | 12 | 1'46.687 | 1.569 |
10 |
Dennis Hauger
|
MP Motorsport | 12 | 1'46.737 | 1.619 |
11 |
Ralph Boschung
|
Campos Racing | 12 | 1'46.859 | 1.741 |
12 |
Jehan Daruvala
|
MP Motorsport | 12 | 1'46.896 | 1.778 |
13 |
Frederik Vesti
|
Prema Powerteam | 12 | 1'46.899 | 1.781 |
14 |
Roy Nissany
|
PHM Racing by Charouz | 12 | 1'47.194 | 2.076 |
15 |
Jack Doohan
|
Invicta Virtuosi Racing | 13 | 1'47.266 | 2.148 |
16 |
Enzo Fittipaldi
|
Rodin Carlin | 13 | 1'47.267 | 2.149 |
17 |
Roman Staněk
|
Trident | 13 | 1'47.470 | 2.352 |
18 |
Richard Verschoor
|
Van Amersfoort Racing | 11 | 1'47.533 | 2.415 |
19 |
Clement Novalak
|
Trident | 13 | 1'47.578 | 2.460 |
20 |
Juan Manuel Correa
|
Van Amersfoort Racing | 12 | 1'47.989 | 2.871 |
21 |
Amaury Cordeel
|
Invicta Virtuosi Racing | 13 | 1'48.198 | 3.080 |
22 |
Brad Benavides
|
PHM Racing by Charouz | 10 | 1'50.122 | 5.004 |
View full results |
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