F2: Dino Beganovic was lucky to win pole at Imola
After three stages of the season, Richard Fershor is in the lead in the Formula 2 individual standings, but his closest rivals are not much inferior to the Dutch MP Motorsport racer. It was expected that a fierce rivalry would develop for the two bonus points awarded for pole position in the youth series, but circumstances intervened in the course of events at the Imola track.
After the first attempt, the qualifying protocol was led not by Fershor, but by Victor Martin, an equally experienced rider from the ART team. Martin needs to show results this year, because his time in F2 is already running out, and the Frenchman is unlucky for various reasons. But there's no doubt about his speed, so it makes sense that he went the fastest almost immediately, clocking 1:27.424 on the lap.
Leonardo Fornaroli from Invicta Racing was a couple of tenths behind him, and Alex Dunn, an Irish Rodin Motor racer and a participant in the McLaren youth program, was another tenth.
By the way, Fershor was also quite fast, but Oliver Goethe, his team-mate, flew off the track just in front of him, which prevented Richard from completing the lap in full force. However, the German dusted along the side of the road and returned to the track, but the lap was ruined not only for him.
After the first attempt, the drivers returned to the pit lane for fresh sets of SuperSoft tires, after which qualifying continued with less than ten minutes left before the end of the session.
Sebastian Montoya scored first in the second attempt, blocking Martin's time, but Dino Beganovic, a Hitech racer and a student at the Ferrari Academy, managed to complete the lap even faster before the red flags were posted on the track. This was due to the fact that Kush Maini lost control of the car at the exit of the Tamburello turn, and the pink Dallara of the DAMS team was pretty badly smashed.
And then the race management announced that qualifying would not be resumed, as there was less and less time left before the start of the second Formula 1 practice session. This meant that Beganovic would start Sunday's F2 race from pole position for the first time in his career. But Montoya Jr. also deserves praise – he had the second time of the session, and he lost to Dino by only three thousandths.
Considering that it is quite difficult to overtake even in Formula 2 cars on the narrow Imola track, Sebastian has a good chance of success. However, we won't know how he will manage to hold the main race of the weekend until the day after tomorrow, and Jack Crawford, Maini's partner, will start from the first position in Saturday's sprint. Recall that the youth series uses a partially reversed starting order, namely Crawford showed the 10th result today.
The leader of the individual standings, Richard Fershor, was much less lucky: he did not manage to complete his second attempt and eventually remained on the distant 19th line. It is always difficult to get ahead at the start from the last rows, and even more so in Imola.
It is worth adding that Dino Beganovic became the first Formula 2 driver to be awarded a new cup, which is awarded to the winner of the qualification.
Qualification results
Pilot
The Time Team
Difference
Circles
1. D.Beganovich
Hitech GP
1:27.418
-
09
2. P.Montoya
Prema
1:27.421
+0.003
09
3 . V.Martin
ART Grand Prix
1:27.424
+0.006
09
4 . L.Fornaroli
Invicta Racing
1:27.702
+0.284
10
5 . A. Dunn
Rodin Motorsport
1:27.806
+0.388
09
6 . A.Lindblad
Campos Racing
1:27.815
+0.397
09
7 . L. Browning
Hitech GP
1:27.827
+0.409
08
8 . O. Goethe
MP Motorsport
1:27.950
+0.532
09
9 . K.Maini
DAMS
1:28.025
+0.607
08
10. D.Crawford
DAMS
1:28.043
+0.625
08
11. R.Miata
ART Grand Prix
1:28.108
+0.690
09
12. X.Marty
Campos Racing
1:28.220
+0.802
09
13. R.Stanek
Invicta Racing
1:28.237
+0.819
10
14. D. Durksen
AIX Racing
1:28.260
+0.842
09
15. G.Mini
Prema
1:28.304
+0.886
09
16. S.Megetunif
Trident
1:28.543
+1.125
09
17. R.Villagomes
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:28.618
+1.200
10
18. M.Esterson
Trident
1:28.672
+1.254
09
19. R.Fershor
MP Motorsport
1:28.680
+1.262
09
20. A.Kordil
Rodin Motorsport
1:28.830
+1.412
09
21. D. Bennett
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:28.876
+1.458
10
22. K. Shields
AIX Racing
1:29.534
+2.116
10
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