Pourchaire Perfects Principality for Formula 2 Pole

Under Mediterranean heat, Théo Pourchaire was able to stay cool and take his first FIA Formula 2 pole position in Monaco after a simply sublime lap.

The Frenchman was in Group A which went out first and it was thought that was to the disadvantage of those in said group as track conditions were expected to improve for the second group who also boasted most of the title contenders.

But the 17-year-old clearly didn’t read the script and set a blistering 1:20:985 to earn pole position for ART by nearly half a second.

Alongside him on the feature race front row will be Robert Shwartzman who led the second group who didn’t find the same improvements late on as track temperatures rose dramatically.

His PREMA teammate Oscar Piastri will line up third by virtue of being second quickest in Group A with Dan Ticktum in fourth for Carlin.

Juri Vips had looked like the man to beat in Group A but he clipped the wall on his last push lap and had to pit, meaning he didn’t get the last flyer that earnt Pourchaire pole. He starts fifth alongside Ralph Boschung who continues to impress for Campos.

Roy Nissany did well to be fourth fastest in Group A and therefore starts seventh for DAMS, using his knowledge of the streets to his advantage having raced in Monaco before in F2. Christian Lundgaard will be eighth as he couldn’t match his teammate’s stellar lap.

Ninth and tenth for UNI-Virtuosi wouldn’t have been what they were hoping for but the new weekend format means they will have a front row lockout for the first race of the weekend on Friday. Guanyu Zhou will have pole with Felipe Drugovich to his outside.

It was a session without incident remarkably as everyone kept their cars out of the barrier, although Alessio Deledda’s lap wasn’t quick enough to see him classified and he will now need to be accepted by the FIA to start tomorrow’s race.