Iwasa takes maiden F2 pole by three tenths at Hungaroring · RaceFans

Ayumu Iwasa took his first Formula 2 pole position at the Hungaroring, with a blistering lap three tenths of a second quicker than any other driver.

Hitech driver Marcus Armstrong will line up alongside Iwasa on the front row of the grid for Sunday’s Feature Race, with championship leader Felipe Drugovich in third.

Armstrong was the first driver to set a time in the qualifying session. His 1’29.228 was swiftly beaten by both Frederick Vesti and Theo Pourchaire’s ART cars, who initially set the pace.

Drugovich was able to split the ARTs to be second-fastest in the first ten minutes, before most drivers returned to the pits. Only a small handful stayed out, one of whom was Olli Caldwell who took the fastest time for Campos with a 1’28.803, just ahead of other drivers returning to the track.

Track evolution was not in favour of any driver who had taken the gamble to run out of sequence with the others, even though the risk of traffic with other cars out on track was much higher. Armstrong set a 1’28.311 to carve nearly half a second out of Caldwell’s time and appeared to look assured for pole.

Iwasa initially looked scrappy in his second run, struggling to stay within track limits at turn five and only managing to set a time good enough for fifth-fastest. Drugovich took second-fastest, a tenth off Armstrong’s pace and the Hitech driver looked increasingly safe at the top, as neither ART could manage to unseat him.

However, Iwasa went out on a final run and became the only driver to dip into the 1’27s, setting a 1’27.930 and going three-tenths faster than Armstrong. Armstrong kept second-place, so will start the feature race alongside Iwasa on the front row, with title rivals Drugovich and Pourchaire on the row behind.

Jack Doohan will take partially-reversed-grid sprint race pole, after qualifying tenth. Iwasa slightly extends his lead over Armstrong for ninth in the standings, moving five points ahead. Having scored his maiden Formula 2 win in the feature race at Le Castellet, this is the DAMS drivers’ first pole position in Formula 2.

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Formula 2 Hungarian qualifying results