Mirko Bortolotti claimed pole position for the second FIA Formula Two Championship race at Brands Hatch after a great lap in the first half of the qualifying session.
Ramon Pineiro and then Kelvin Snoeks topped the timesheets early in the session, but championship leader Bortolotti fitted new tyres after just ten minutes and took top spot immediately by 0.7 seconds, before improving on his next effort to move 1.4s clear of the rest of the field.
Although a number of drivers moved close to that benchmark in the remainder of the session Bortolotti had done enough to take pole.
“I’m pleased with that session as I didn’t crash,” he said, referring to his incident with Alex Brundle in Saturday's qualifying session. “The car felt ok and it went well for us. We knew we had good pace so it was a matter of putting it all together. I’d like to thank my guys for repairing the car after yesterday and for a fine job, and I’m looking forward to the race.”
Pineiro got closest to Bortolotti, missing out by a tenth. Saturday's race winner Jack Clarke will start from third, just as he did yesterday. Miki Monras was fourth quickest, ahead of Tobias Hegewald and Brundle.
Mihai Marinescu was seventh, ahead of Armaan Ebrahim, Christopher Zanella and Benjamin Lariche.
Qualifying results:
1. Mirko Bortolotti, 1:15.730s
2. Ramon Pineiro, +0.109s
3. Jack Clarke, +0.200s
4. Miki Monras, +0.424s
5. Tobias Hegewald, +0.495s
6. Alex Brundle, +0.777s
7. Mihai Marinescu, +0.863s
8. Armaan Ebrahim, +0.894s
9. Christopher Zanella, +0.926s
10. Benjamin Lariche, +1.068s
