Formula 2

Zhou stamps authority on field by storming to F2 pole in Austria

1 Mins read

UNI-Virtuosi’s Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou was the star man in qualifying as he crushed the field to take pole position for Saturday’s feature race by over four tenths.

Zhou was already fastest after the initial runs but cemented his dominance by setting a blistering 1:14:416 which no one could get close to.

Alongside him on the front row will be rookie Felipe Drugovich who never finished higher than sixth in F3 last year but showed sublime pace to beat Zhou’s teammate Callum Ilott to second by 0.004s.

For the second time in as many sessions, Marino Sato brought out the red flag as he lost control of his car at the exit of turn four and span into the gravel trap.

Behind Ilott came Christian Lundgaard who set his best lap after the red flag was removed as did Mick Schumacher who finally managed to hook up a lap after a disappointing practice.

Jehan Daruvala will start from sixth with Luca Ghiotto and Robert Shwartzman on row four. Dan Ticktum and Louis Delétraz completed the top ten but a number of drivers had laps ruined at the end of the session after Nikita Mazepin span at turn six to bring out yellow flags.

Mazepin himself though starts 11th which he’ll be happy with after missing all of practice, but the likes of Yuki Tsunoda, Marcus Armstrong and Jack Aitken have it all to do from P12-14 after being forced to back off because of the Russian’s pirouette.

Pos.NameTeamLap Time
1Guanyu ZhouUNI-Virtuosi1:14:416
2Felipe DrugovichMP Motorsport1:14:880
3Callum IlottUNI-Virtuosi1:14:884
4Christian LundgaardART1:14:922
5Mick SchumacherPREMA1:14:952
6Jehan DaruvalaCarlin1:15:028
7Luca GhiottoHitech GP1:15:044
8Robert ShwartzmanPREMA1:15:051
9Dan TicktumDAMS1:15:128
10Louis DelétrazCharouz1:15:151
11Nikita MazepinHitech GP1:15:152
12Yuki TsunodaCarlin1:15:157
13Marcus ArmstrongART1:15:208
14Jack AitkenCampos1:15:264
15Pedro PiquetCharouz1:15:376
16Roy NissanyTrident1:15:457
17Sean GelaelDAMS1:15:604
18Guiliano AlesiHWA Racelab1:15:688
19Guilherme SamaiaCampos1:15:703
20Artem MarkelovHWA Racelab1:15:746
21Nobuharu MatsushitaMP Motorsport1:15:897
22Marino SatoTrident1:16:011
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If it's got an engine, I've watched it race. F2 and F3 correspondent with a sprinkling of speedway here and there.
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