Jak Crawford secures his first ever FIA Formula 2 pole position in Zandvoort for the Feature Race.
Rodin Carlin driver, Zane Maloney, was the first car to head out onto the track at the start of the session. Dennis Hauger closely followed him out and if his pace in Practice was anything to go by, he would be one to watch.
The first set of push laps began and there was drama right from the off as Jack Doohan and Victor Martins were fighting for track position from Turn 13 all the way down into Turn 1.
Martins threw a defensive move on the main straight, the incident was noted by race control and will be investigated after the session. Extraordinary action between the two Alpine Academy drivers.
The first set of runs rounded out with Crawford topping the timing sheets in his Hitech GP machine, followed by Frederik Vesti in the PREMA and Doohan in P3.
Crawford was showing great pace at the start of the Practice session in Zandvoort and he came out the blocks in Qualifying with the same sort of strides as he did earlier on in the day.
Hauger was running out of sync with the rest of the field which helped him to find time, moving him up to second, +0.034 behind Crawford. Doohan was another driver to run differently, due to his run-in with Martins. The Australian climbed up to P4 at the halfway point in the session.
Drivers then pitted for a brand new set of soft tyres halfway through Qualifying. Pirelli have brought a compound which is one step softer compared to last year’s event choice.
On their second round of push laps, there was action again in the pit lane as provisional pole-sitter, Crawford broke his front wing. Clément Novalak was released into the fast lane and made contact with the American driver. This put him out of sync as he immediately pitted for repairs to his Hitech.
Everyone was ready to get going after their warm-up laps but that was halted by a red flag as Jehan Daruvala found his way into the barriers on the exit of Turn 3. He suffered rear-left suspension damage as a result, and that was the end of his session.
Green flag running resumed and cars exited back onto the track for the final 7 minutes of Qualifying but once again the red flag was called. On the entry to Turn 10, Juan-Manuel Correa spun into the gravel after he set the fastest first sector of the session. It was incredibly frustrating for the American driver, considering that Zandvoort is VAR’s home round and he was on course for a mighty lap.
The session resumed with 3 minutes to go but once again there was another red flag as the Trident of Novalak found the wall on the exit of Turn 3. Carbon fibre shards lined the track so the session would not be restarted.
One of the most dramatic F2 Qualifying sessions resulted in Crawford on pole at Zandvoort. He claims an important two bonus points, Hauger finished P2 +0.034, Vesti in his PREMA is P3 +0.112, Maloney in P4 +0.127 and Doohan rounded out the top 5 +0.148 off Crawford’s pole time.
Championship leader, Théo Pourchaire is on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race on Saturday after finishing the session in P10. A lot of drivers are under investigation by the stewards, especially the likes of Martins down in P8 and Doohan for their run-in at the start of the session.
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Image: Formula Motorsport Limited
