Drugovich Storms to Fourth Formula 2 Pole Position of 2022 as Pourchaire Crashes

Felipe Drugovich edged another step closer to the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship title as he clinched his fourth pole position of the year on Friday afternoon at the Circuit Zandvoort.

The Brazilian will start Sunday’s Feature race from the front of the field, with the MP Motorsport ace dominating the first Formula 2 Qualifying session at Zandvoort in the modern era.

He earned two points for taking pole position, and his position was strengthened still further by the fact that his closest rival for the championship, ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire, crashed out of Qualifying and will start both races down in sixteenth position.

Pourchaire’s crash into the barriers after losing the rear of the car at turn three caused a fifteen minute interruption to the session, but on resumption, Drugovich claimed top spot with a lap of 1:20.713, more than two-tenths of a second better than anyone else could manage.

Joining Drugovich on the front row on Sunday will be Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan, the Australian the only driver to get within half a second of the pole time, and even he was 0.226 seconds back.

Third on the grid will be Carlin’s Logan Sargeant, with the American edging out Trident’s Richard Verschoor by just 0.001 seconds, while a further 0.001 seconds back in fifth was DAMS’ Red Bull-backed Ayuma Iwasa.

Liam Lawson, a winner last time out at Spa-Francorchamps, put the second Carlin sixth on the grid, just ahead of Prema Racing’s Dennis Hauger in seventh and Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips in eighth.

Ninth on the grid will be the second Hitech of Marcus Armstrong, while tenth place – and pole position for Saturday’s Sprint Race – was MP Motorsport’s Clément Novalak.

As well as Pourchaire’s red flag, another was needed due to an incident involving Prema Racings’s Jehan Daruvala, who lost the car at turn seven, while there were also off-track moments for Sargeant, Doohan and ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti at turn twelve during the session.

Circuit Zandvoort Qualifying Result