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Qualifying report

F2 Jeddah: Piastri grabs fourth consecutive pole

Oscar Piastri claimed his fourth consecutive Formula 2 pole position, extending his championship lead in the process by claiming the four bonus points in Jeddah.

Pole sitter Oscar Piastri,  Prema Racing

Pole sitter Oscar Piastri, Prema Racing

Formula Motorsport Ltd

The championship leader produced the goods on his final lap to post a 1m40.878s to snatch pole by 0.165s from Prema teammate Robert Shwartzman.

ART Grand Prix's Theo Pourchaire seemed on course for pole before Piastri and Shwartzman struck, demoting the Frenchman down to third at the chequered flag.

Piastri's title rival Guanyu Zhou was sixth fastest, almost half a second shy of the poleman, and as a result is now 40 points behind in the championship race.

As drivers jostled for track position, the first indicative times on the super soft tyres came five minutes into the 30 minute session as Pourchaire shot to the top.

However, he was soon pipped by Ralph Boschung, Piastri and practice pacesetter Shwartzman, who posted a 1m41.747s to head the timesheets by 0.064s after the first flying laps.

Zhou could only managed a time good enough for 10th, the reverse gird pole, some 1.3s adrift of Shwartzman.

Rookie Clement Novalak made an impressive start to his first F2 qualifying session to sit fifth behind Pourchaire after his first run.

Pourchaire made the most of his second flying lap to eclipse Shwartzman by three tenths, but the later issued an immediate response to reclaim provisional pole at the halfway mark, to pip the youngest ever F2 race winner by 0.029s.

Piastri remained third while Lundgaard jumped to fourth ahead of Felipe Drugovich, Dan Ticktum and Juri Vips, who demoted Novalak to eighth.

The field all came in for a second set of super softs ahead of their second and final runs with 10 minutes remaining.

Only Zhou and Marcus Armstrong improved on their first flyers of the run as the title contender jumped to third, while Armstrong climbed to eighth.

Hopes of a pole for Ticktum were dented after suffering a right rear puncture that required an unscheduled trip to the pits.

Zhou shaved even more time from his personal best on his second flyer to initial slot into third.

However, behind his rivals were also on hot laps with Pourchaire next to strike, moving into provisional pole.

But the teenager's joy was short-live as Piastri denied him pole courtesy of a rapid first sector in his final lap. Shwartzman threatened to knock the Australian off pole but fell short as he crossed the line.

Christian Lundgaard ended the session fourth after a late effort saw the Dane leapfrog Drugovich and Zhou.

Boschung, Vips and Armstrong filled seventh through to ninth, while Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10 and will earn the reverse grid pole for Saturday's opening race.

Novalak emerged as the quickest of the four F2 debutants in 12th position.

The opening sprint race of the weekend is due to start at 1530 local time 12:30pm GMT.

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap
1 Australia Oscar Piastri
Italy Prema Powerteam 12 1'40.878
2 Russian Federation Robert Shwartzman
Italy Prema Powerteam 11 1'41.043 0.165
3 France Theo Pourchaire
France ART Grand Prix 13 1'41.218 0.340
4 Denmark Christian Lundgaard
France ART Grand Prix 13 1'41.297 0.419
5 Brazil Felipe Drugovich
United Kingdom UNI-Virtuosi 11 1'41.302 0.424
6 China Guanyu Zhou
United Kingdom UNI-Virtuosi 12 1'41.350 0.472
7 Switzerland Ralph Boschung
Spain Campos Racing 12 1'41.532 0.654
8 Estonia Jüri Vips
United Kingdom HitechGP 12 1'41.610 0.732
9 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong
France DAMS 12 1'41.618 0.740
10 New Zealand Liam Lawson
United Kingdom HitechGP 12 1'41.619 0.741
11 India Jehan Daruvala
United Kingdom Carlin 12 1'41.861 0.983
12 United Kingdom Clement Novalak
Netherlands MP Motorsport 11 1'41.890 1.012
13 United Kingdom Dan Ticktum
United Kingdom Carlin 12 1'41.960 1.082
14 Netherlands Bent Viscaal
Italy Trident 12 1'41.972 1.094
15 Israel Roy Nissany
France DAMS 12 1'42.076 1.198
16 Australia Jack Doohan
Netherlands MP Motorsport 11 1'42.114 1.236
17 Japan Marino Sato
Italy Trident 11 1'42.466 1.588
18 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 12 1'42.870 1.992
19 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell
Spain Campos Racing 12 1'42.919 2.041
20 Brazil Guilherme Samaia
Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 12 1'43.422 2.544
21 United States Logan Sargeant
HWA Racelab 12 1'43.481 2.603
Italy Alessio Deledda
HWA Racelab 0

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