In an incident filled Qualifying, it was Dino Beganovich who came out fastest in F2 Qualifying, claiming the first pole position at the Madring.
Behind the DAMS Lucas Oil driver, Alex Dunne was forced to settle for second. The Irishman, who topped the first half of the session, edged out Rafael Câmara by three tenths.
A slow start in Madrid
Nikola Tsolov made a strong start to his Madrid weekend by topping the timesheets in Free Practice ahead of the Van Amersfoort Racing duo Nico Varrone and Rafael Villagómez. The only red flag was from ART Grand Prix’ Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, who found the barrier at the exit of Turn 19. While the Thai driver was uninjured, his car received significant damage and he unable to take part in Qualifying.
After a slightly delayed start to qualifying, it wasn’t long until the session was red flagged. Sebastian Montoya suffered steering damage to his PREMA after clipping the wall bringing out a yellow flag. Kush Maini sent his car spinning into the barriers, leaving him stranded on track. It’s a disappointing start to the weekend for ART, with Maini and Inthraphuvasak set to start from the back of the field for both races.
After almost ten minutes in the pit lane, the field was back on track. Tsolov jumped to the top of the timesheet, two hundredths ahead of Alex Dunne. Before any more progress could be made, a second Red Flag was called after Nico Varrone found the barriers at Turn 19.
With 18 minutes on the clock and no solid running, getting a banker lap here could be crucial once the pit lane reopens.
A Disrupted Quali is Green again
After another stint in the pit lane the drivers were back on track. As the Madring stayed green it was Dunne who topped Tsolov’s time. Behind him, his Rodin teammate Martinius Stenshorne slotted into third. Laurens Van Hoepen and John Bennett were next into the top three as Tsolov dropped down to fourth.
With Dunne’s time almost untouchable, it was DAMS Lucas Oil drivers Dino Beganovich and Roman Bilinski who sandwiched the Irishman. Beganovich, who was fastest through the first two sectors earlier in the session, was two tenths clear of Dunne.
After securing two purple sectors in his opening laps, Beganovich began to better himself. The Ferrari junior academy driver, claimed another two purple sectors before going six tenths clear on his time.After a slow start to the session Gabriele Minì has also gone up to third, over one second behind Beganovich
Another Red Flag
After weeks of speculation, the Madring was living up to its chaotic hype. In the dying minutes of Qualifying, Bennett found the barrier at Turn 11. The Trident driver had just set the fastest first sector. With just over five minutes on the clock, the hunt for a flying lap would be on once the track was green again.
Qualifying has proved crucial for this Championship fight as Rafael Câmara sits down in 14th behind and Tsolov who had fallen to ninth. With the cars back on track and the times tumbling quickly it was Dunne who went fastest by 0.017s. The Irishman was quickly outpaced by Beganovich with a 1:44.331.
In a last minute dash for the line, it was Câmara who jumped up to third ahead of Stenshorne. Colton Herta rounded out the session with a crash into the Turn 19 barriers, leaving all remaining laps abandoned.
Dino Bagnovich will line up from Pole for Sunday’s Feature Race ahead of Alex Dunne and Rafael Câmara. Stenshorne secured fourth, while Nikola Tsolov will look to hunt down his championship rivals from fifth. After strong starts to the session, Bilinski will start from sixth ahead of Van Hoepen. Noel León will look to hold off Miyata who starts ninth, while Emerson Fittipaldi slots into tenth.
Formula 2 will return to the Madring tomorrow afternoon for the Sprint Race at 2:15pm local time ahead of the Feature Race at 11:25am Sunday morning.
Feature Image Credit: Formula 2