On F2’s first weekend at Imola, Juri Vips finally claimed his maiden pole position in a wet and heavily disrupted qualifying, whilst Marcus Armstrong led the way to a dominant sprint race victory.
Let’s give you a recap.
F2 QUALIFYING
Friday saw heavy rainfall cause major disruption to the running of qualifying, and with rain hitting the track as the cars left the paddock, the drivers were forced to venture out on wet tyres.
The rain seemed to be no match for Juri Vips who, even with describing the conditions as nothing “like I’ve ever driven before”, highlighted his wet weather skills in posting a pole lap 0.15 seconds clear of his nearest competitor – fellow Red Bull Junior Ayumu Iwasa.
In his three years of racing for the series, the Estonian has always been denied a pole position. It had been tantalising close a number of times however it wasn’t until the rain hit, and the sun set over Imola, that he finally got the job done. “It’s a bit of a relief to finally get that [pole] ticked off the list” says Vips. “I was a bit annoyed I hadn’t got that yet.”
Claiming P2 in qualifying was an incredible result for F2 rookie Iwasa for whom today was the first time he experienced the Imola track – in person that is. “I’ve never driven before in Imola, even in other categories” said Iwasa. “I prepared a lot in the sim for this weekend.”
With the ever-changing conditions that plagued the circuit, the drivers had to be on top of their game to keep up with a drying track as they went further and further into the night. When asked about the difficulty of adapting to this on an unfamiliar track, Jack Doohan stated “I think at this level we should be able to adapt to anything … especially if you want to be a championship winner.”
And that Doohan did, after facing a multitude of challenges in a tricky start to his rookie season, a P3 qualifying – on a track he had never driven on prior to this weekend – has left the Aussie “confident we can kickstart our championship here.”
Final Qualifying Classification:
F2 SPRINT RACE
Starting the race from P2, Marcus Armstrong was quick to take the lead of the race going into the first braking zone on the first lap. From then on, a dominant and unchallenged start-to-finish lead helped the Kiwi take home a well deserved race win.
After the race, Armstrong revealed that he was having major problems with his team radio throughout the race. “My radio wasn’t working so I had to watch the tv to see where [Daruvala] was.” The kiwi, seemingly unfazed, took in his stride and on reflection, “I quite enjoyed it, it was very peaceful, I was alone with my thoughts.”
Alongside him on the podium were the two Prema drivers – Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger – scoring an impressive double podium for the Italian team.
It was a great result in particular for Hauger who demonstrated, with his first F2 podium, that after a difficult start to his rookie season he is growing in confidence each time he gets in the car. “It feels like a turning point for me…I feel a lot more at home with the car” said Hauger. “I want to be up there fighting for the trophy, hopefully we can keep this momentum.”
After today’s result Daruvala sits P3 in the drivers’ championship, a mere point stands between him and Carlin’s Lawson with Felipe Drugovich leading the way on 49 points.
Final Sprint Race Classification:
Sunday will see the driver’s take to the Imola circuit for the final time. F2 feature race is scheduled to start at 10:20 local time. Follow us on all socials (@JoinEF1) for all the latest.