F2 Zandvoort: Drugovich claims pole as Pourchaire crashes
Felipe Drugovich secured a second consecutive FIA Formula 2 pole position at Zandvoort as title contender Theo Pourchaire crashed out of qualifying.
Photo by: Dutch Photo Agency
The MP Motorsport driver, who leads the standings by 43 points from his ART rival, dominated the session to secure pole by 0.2s from Jack Doohan.
Heading straight into provisional pole on his first run, the Brazilian set a 1m21.915s to top the timesheet, and despite a strong challenge from Virtuosi’s Spa feature race winner Doohan, improved later on in the session to secure pole with a 1m20.713s.
He will line up at the front for Sunday’s feature race, with just two more rounds remaining after this weekend, while Pourchaire starts 16th after his Turn 3 crash just nine minutes into the 30-minute session.
Logan Sargeant secured third place for Carlin, with Trident’s Richard Verschoor in fourth at his home race.
With Drugovich initially leading, Pourchaire slotted into second on his first run with a 1m21.984s, before he was demoted by reigning F3 champion Dennis Hauger.
Doohan then took the lead, with a 1m21.760s, before Pourchaire caused the red flag on his second run, losing the rear before overcorrecting and hitting the wall in an incident similar to that which ended William Alatalo’s F3 qualifying session earlier in the afternoon.
After a 15-minute stoppage to fix the barriers, Ayumu Iwasa slotted into second for DAMS with a 1m21.840s, while Sargeant moved up into third.
Doohan improved on his earlier time with a 1m21.487s, putting him 0.4s clear of Iwasa, before the field headed back into the pits.
Iwasa then took the lead before Sargeant went fastest before Drugovich claimed provisional pole, setting his fastest time and going 0.5s clear of Iwasa.
Despite Doohan also improving, with a 1m20.939s, he was unable to catch the Brazilian, who he beat to feature race victory last weekend.
A late red flag came courtesy of Jehan Daruvala, the Prema driver losing the car at Turn 7 before catching the grass and spinning, with Sargeant and Doohan also running through the gravel at Turn 12 and 13.
Though there were four minutes left on the clock after the red flag was cleared, most opted to stay in the pits, with a victorious Drugovich emerging early from his car.
Frederik Vesti looked set to improve for ART but also ran through the Turn 12 gravel, scuppering his chances and leaving him to line up 11th.
Iwasa will line up fifth on Sunday, with Liam Lawson (Carlin) and Hauger in sixth and seventh.
MP Motorsport’s Clement Novalak starts on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s sprint race, with Marcus Armstrong alongside him for Hitech and teammate Juri Vips in third.
F2 Zandvoort - Qualifying results:
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