After securing his first win in FIA Formula 2 last weekend in Le Castellet, DAMS‘ Ayumu Iwasa put in a dominant performance at the Hungaroring to take his first F2 pole position by nearly four tenths.
Hitech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong will start alongside the lightening fast Japanese driver in the second place grid slot for Sunday’s driver while championship leader Felipe Drugovich rounded out the top three qualifiers of the weekend.
It was the Kiwi driver who set the first benchmark early on in the session while Iwasa and his team-mate Roy Nissany suffered from lock-ups on their first runs on the Hungarian track.
Théo Pourchaire was next to take the top spot only to be bested by his ART Grand Prix team-mate moments later when Frederik Vesti topped the timing sheets.
The Frenchman will start from fourth on the grid with the Dane starting from seventh.
Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited
With most of the drivers opting to pit after two flying laps, Campos Racing’s Olli Caldwell used the opportunity of a free track to move himself up from sixteenth place to first, setting a time which was just four thousandths faster than Vesti’s.
The Brit didn’t last at the top for long, with Armstrong finding his rhythm once again to retake provisional pole ahead of Pourchaire and last weeks pole-sitter Logan Sargeant.
Armstrong failed to improve again on his final run, opening the door for Iwasa to set purple sectors and throw himself three and a half tenths above the rest of the grid with no answer from anyone else.
Jüri Vips took the sixth fastest time of the session, with Dennis Hauger taking eighth and Enzo Fittipaldi starting from ninth.
The reverse grid pole sitter for Saturday’s Sprint Race falls to Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan who qualified in tenth place, seven and a half tenths off of Iwasa’s out of reach benchmark.
| POS | NO. | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | 1:27.930 |
| 2 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | +0.381 |
| 3 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +0.410 |
| 4 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +0.429 |
| 5 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +0.451 |
| 6 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +0.461 |
| 7 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | +0.632 |
| 8 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | +0.674 |
| 9 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | +0.756 |
| 10 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | +0.761 |
| 11 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | +0.820 |
| 12 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +0.856 |
| 13 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +0.873 |
| 14 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | +0.919 |
| 15 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | +1.088 |
| 16 | 23 | Cem Bölükbasi | TUR | Charouz Racing System | +1.172 |
| 17 | 24 | David Beckmann | GER | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1.413 |
| 18 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +1.416 |
| 19 | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +1.551 |
| 20 | 15 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Campos Racing | +1.617 |
| 21 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +1.676 |
| 22 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1.862 |