Logan Sargeant left it as late as possible to snatch pole position for the Feature Race in Le Castellet, narrowly edging out Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vesti by tiny margins.
Iwasa had held provisional pole going into the final laps and Vesti couldn’t quite match him, ending up 0.023 seconds down on the DAMS driver’s effort. However, Sargeant pulled out a time just 0.006s faster, and that was good enough to put him on pole for Sunday’s race.
Championship leader Felipe Drugovich will start from fourth while home favourite Théo Pourchaire will line up P6, the pair sandwiching Jack Doohan in P5.
Drivers took extra care on their preparation laps to keep the soft compound as intact as possible for their flying laps, with temperatures remaining high for the Qualifying session.
The MP Motorsport duo were the first to get a time on the board but those further behind were finding better pace. Doohan narrowly headed up the pack by 0.007s from Jüri Vips with a 1:44.953. The gap back to Iwasa was two-tenths with Richard Verschoor and Sargeant following in the top five.
The first run on fresh tyres was expected to be the key lap to count the most but there were plenty of personal and session bests on later laps on the same set. Pourchaire was the next to go fastest but he was quickly knocked off the top spot by Sargeant. The Carlin driver went clear at the top with a 1:44.599, a time Doohan couldn’t quite match. Iwasa split the two to move himself into second while Verschoor leapt back up to P4 after Doohan had his second time deleted to keep himself and Trident in the mix.
Drivers entered the pits with 15 minutes remaining for the customary change of tyres and the waiting game began as teams targeted the best of the track conditions in the final third of the session. As the clock ticked underneath 11 minutes to go, the field poured back out onto the circuit to post more times.
Enzo Fittipaldi didn’t join them though and was out of the car unable to take part in the final 10 minutes due to an issue on his car. Dennis Hauger joined the Brazilian on the sidelines shortly afterwards, coming to a halt on track and bringing out the red flags with just over seven minutes left of Qualifying.
The track temperature had fallen slightly in the short gap ahead before the session resumed, and drivers were quick to get their preparation laps out of the way – it would be tight to get two clean runs in with a cooldown lap in between them.
Drugovich was the first to get his next lap on the board and took the top spot – but not for long. Vesti was the first into the 43s, slotting in at the top of the timing screen until Iwasa snuck ahead by a tenth on a 1:43.877 for provisional pole.
With time running out, the fight for track position was crucial to get another lap in. Iwasa lost out on the chance for a final flying lap, with the chequered flag flying a fraction too early for another chance at bettering his time.
Drugovich was in clear air though, and lifted himself into third. Vesti narrowly missed out by just 0.023s on Iwasa’s time. Sargeant was further back and made his final lap count, finding the time to take pole position at the very last with a 1:43.871. Just 0.029s separated the top three.
Drugovich fell to fourth by the end with Doohan rounding out the top five. Pourchaire ended up sixth ahead of Vips, Marcus Armstrong, Liam Lawson and Jehan Daruvala, who will start on reverse grid pole in the Sprint Race.
LIAM LAWSON TAKES VICTORY IN LE CASTELLET SPRINT RACE
Liam Lawson claimed his second win of the 2022 season with a measured drive on the way to sprint race victory. The Carlin driver made two brilliant moves during the race, making both passes into the chicane with a stand-out overtake on Marcus Armstrong being a highlight.
Jehan Daruvala held onto second despite a fierce battle in the final laps following a Safety Car; the entire top ten were closely bunched up, with nine of the ten battling for second place behind Lawson. Théo Pourchaire kept the home fans happy with an aggressive drive to secure third, battling and holding off title rival Felipe Drugovich for a spot on the rostrum.
Despite finishing in first, Lawson struggled to make an impact as the race began, lagging behind pole-sitter Daruvala. Lawson dropped down the order into turn one, losing second to Armstrong and hird to Drugovich momentarily, but a wide moment on corner exit left the MP Motorsport driver in the hands of Pourchaire. Pourchaire made the most of the opportunity to jump his Championship rival for fourth place at Turn 3. Cem Bölükbasi was the biggest gainer on lap 1, rising to 13th position from his P21 grid slot.
Lawson kept in close to Armstrong ahead and made a late lunge into Turn 1 on lap 4. The pair battled through the first sector and narrowly avoided contact, just millimetres apart at Turn 4. Onto the Mistral Straight and with another helping of DRS, Armstrong made a dive at the chicane, turning the outside line into the inside line on corner exit to seal P2.
After making the move, the gap to race leader Daruvala stood at 2.2s but Lawson set about hunting him down immediately to cut it down to 1.6s by Lap 6. By Lap 8, the Carlin driver broke into DRS range, dragging a DRS train down to fifth-placed Drugovich along with him.
Action was paused on Lap 9 with a Safety Car, following contact between Roberto Merhi and the recovering Enzo Fittipaldi, after the Charouz Racing System driver stalled on the Formation Lap. The pair had been fighting for 15th position but a slide and spin in the North Chicane on the Mistral Straight left the Charouz in the middle of the track. Amaury Cordeel behind couldn’t avoid him and made contact, putting both out of the race.
Racing got back underway at the start of Lap 13 with Lawson hot on the heels of Daruvala and Drugovich harrying Pourchaire further back. The MP driver couldn’t quite slipstream his way past despite an impressive exit out of Turn 7.
DRS was re-enabled on Lap 15 and after stopping for a pit stop under the Safety Car, Calan Williams was very aggressive, fighting with Clément Novalak. The Australian got a great chance into Signes but couldn’t make it to P15. He was forced to wait further into the final sector to make his move on the Frenchman.
In the fight for first, Lawson stuck with the PREMA Racing car ahead of him and with DRS, repeated his move from earlier into the chicane to take the lead of the Sprint Race. The Carlin driver quickly dashed clear, making up over a second to escape the DRS range of his rival behind.
A bold move by Ayumu Iwasa paid off in his fight with Logan Sargeant. Sticking to the inside of Turn 11, he cut ahead of the other Carlin and made the move stick on the exit of Le Beausset to take ninth.
Armstrong was next in the queue headed by Daruvala and tried a move up the inside at the Chicane on Lap 19, though it didn’t go quite as hoped. A big overspeed left Armstrong deep at the chicane, forcing Daruvala to take to the escape road. The PREMA kept P2 while the Hitech was in trouble defending from a crowd of drivers behind him. Pourchaire forced his way through at Le Beausset, and Armstrong ran wide on the exit which dropped him to sixth and allowed Drugovich and Doohan through.
Armstrong’s troubles weren’t over as teammate Jüri Vips made a lunge down the inside of the final corner on the penultimate lap, moving up to sixth and dropping Armstrong to seventh. That quickly became ninth with Frederik Vesti and Iwasa taking advantage on the main straight and Turn 3 respectively.
Meanwhile, Lawson was clear out in front and secured his second win of the season, his first since the Jeddah Sprint Race. Daruvala held onto second and Pourchaire kept his rival at bay for a home podium ahead of Drugovich.
Doohan collected another top five finish ahead of Vips, Vesti, Iwasa, Armstrong and Sargeant with the Carlins at the head and tail-end of the top 10.
Liam Lawson of Carlin Racing said:
“We were able to win from second, I had a bad start and dropped back to third. But the car was really really good the whole race, especially from mid-race onwards, it came on really strong and we were able to make some nice moves to take the win. I’m happy with that. Tomorrow is the main focus now and we need to try and move forward and make up as many positions as we can.”
Lawson’s victory moves himself up to sixth in the Driver’s Championship on 71 points. Daruvala keeps his spot in the top five, now on 88 points in P4. Pourchaire takes second back from Sargeant with his podium finish, with his total now up to 120. Despite his DNF, Fittipaldi keeps P5 but is now just four points ahead of Lawson.
In the Team’s Standings, Carlin moves ahead of MP Motorsport, the British team now leading the way with 188 points to 181. ART Grand Prix is still well in the hunt, with a double score putting it on 178 following the Sprint Race.