Richard Verschoor secured his maiden F2 pole position by setting the quickest time in group qualifying in Monte Carlo ahead of Victor Martins.
The Trident topped the first group qualifying session with a time that was quicker than Martins’ best from the second group to take the most important pole of the season for Sunday’s feature race.
Isack Hadjar will start from third on the grid, with Paul Aron well ahead of championship rival Zane Maloney in fourth.
After rain threatened to fall at the end of the first Formula 1 practice session, drivers were relieved to find clear skies for qualifying after a wet Thursday practice. As with the earlier F3 qualifying, the field of 22 cars were split into two groups of 11 drivers, with all even-numbered drivers in the first group and all odd-numbered drivers following in the second group.
The first group was made up of several contenders including Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar, Mercedes prospect Andrea Kimi Antonelli and McLaren’s Gabriel Bortoleto. After the early runs in the opening group, Zak O’Sullivan sat atop the order, a tenth of a second ahead of Richard Verschoor with Hadjar in third.
In the closing minutes, Verschoor improved to take provisional fastest time with a 1’21.283, a tenth faster than Hadjar. Antonelli was improving on his personal best lap, but appeared to be held up by Juan Manuel Correa into the harbour chicane. Antonelli managed to get a clean final lap in, but he could manage only fourth with his final time. At the end of the session, Verschoor was on provisional pole, with Hadjar set to start no lower than fourth. Franco Colapinto was third, with Antonelli and Bortoleto next.
The second and final group included the two championship leaders, Sauber junior Zane Maloney and Paul Aron, as well as Ferrari academy driver Oliver Bearmanand MP driver Dennis Hauger. The drivers in the second group focused on building up their speeds gradually over several laps.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Before any of the 11 drivers had set a representative time, Rafael Villagomez made an error at the start of his first push lap into Sainte Devote and clattered the wall, causing the session to be red flagged. After the session resumed with just under ten minutes remaining, Roman Stanek set the fastest time with a 1’21.466, almost three tenths quicker than Victor Martins, with Bearman third.
In the final minutes, Stanek looked to improve on his own best time but appeared to strike the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…