ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti continues his fine form in the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship by taking his maiden pole position at the Red Bull Ring in Friday afternoon’s Qualifying session.
The Mercedes junior pipped Jüri Vips to the top spot of Sunday’s grid by just three hundredths of a second after the young Estonian set a last minute lap which looked like it would be enough for the pole.
Last weekend’s Feature Race winner, Logan Sargeant, completed the top three qualifiers while Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa set a late lap to find himself in fourth place.
The top six qualifiers were separated by less than two tenths with the current championship leader Felipe Drugovich putting himself onto the third row of the grid in fifth place.
The Brazilian will start alongside last weekend’s Sprint Race winner Jack Doohan who missed out on beating Drugovich to fifth place by just three thousandths of a second.
Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited
Amaury Cordeel achieved his and Van Amersfoort Racing’s best qualifying result of the season with the Belgian driver starting in seventh place on Sunday alongside Trident’s Richard Verschoor in eighth.
The top eight drivers also happen to be from eight different teams, with ART Grand Prix’s Théo Pourchaire breaking the tradition in ninth place. He will start on the front row of Saturday’s Sprint Race in second place alongside Marcus Armstrong who will be on reverse grid pole.
Track limits were a big talking point throughout the session with a lot of the driver’s having times deleted for going over the white lines on some of the faster corners on the circuit.
| POS | NO. | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | 1:14.123 |
| 2 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +0.035 |
| 3 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +0.165 |
| 4 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +0.184 |
| 5 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +0.192 |
| 6 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | +0.195 |
| 7 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +0.334 |
| 8 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | +0.445 |
| 9 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +0.493 |
| 10 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | +0.547 |
| 11 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +0.579 |
| 12 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | +0.617 |
| 13 | 23 | Cem Bölükbasi | TUR | Charouz Racing System | +0.642 |
| 14 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | +0.669 |
| 15 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | +0.671 |
| 16 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +0.713 |
| 17 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +0.772 |
| 18 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | +0.813 |
| 19 | 24 | Jake Hughes | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | +0.882 |
| 20 | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +1.000 |
| 21 | 15 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Campos Racing | +1.077 |
| 22 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +1.533 |