Jüri Vips took the first Pole Position of his FIA Formula 2 career on a wet and soggy evening at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari, beating DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa by a tenth of a second.
The afternoon practice session was disrupted by rain and saw Ralph Boschung at the top of timing sheets at the checkered flag and it was the Swiss driver who was first to set a competitive time.
He was then toppled by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes before the Estonian driver, Vips, moved to the top.
Before the drivers could head out for their final few push laps in their attempt at Sunday’s Feature Race Pole, Olli Caldwell found himself spinning off the track in Sector 1 which brought out the first and only red flag of the Qualifying session.
Boschung found even more time once the drivers were allowed back on track, a time that was beaten by Vips with a few minutes remaining in the session. His time of 1:40.221 would end up being the fastest time of the day.
Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited
Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan rounded out the top three after a late attempt which slotted him in front of Boschung and behind Iwasa on the second row of the grid.
After some bad luck to start his rookie F2 campaign, the reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Dennis Hauger nailed his best Qualifying feat of the season so far in fifth place, ahead of Roy Nissany on the third row.
Théo Pourchaire set the seventh fastest time of the session with Hauger’s PREMA Racing team-mate Jehan Daruvala in eighth position.
The fifth row of Sunday’s grid and the front row of Saturday’s Sprint Race will be occupied by Marcus Armstrong and Carlin’s Logan Sargeant, who will start the SR from reverse grid pole.
| POS | NO | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | 1:40.221 |
| 2 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +0.157 |
| 3 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | +0.210 |
| 4 | 15 | Ralph Boschung | CHE | Campos Racing | +0.275 |
| 5 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | +0.351 |
| 6 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +0.400 |
| 7 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +0.641 |
| 8 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +0.665 |
| 9 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | +0.783 |
| 10 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +0.841 |
| 11 | 23 | David Beckmann | GER | Charouz Racing System | +0.908 |
| 12 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +0.910 |
| 13 | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +0.952 |
| 14 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | +0.978 |
| 15 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | +1.014 |
| 16 | 9 | Frederick Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | +1.213 |
| 17 | 24 | Jake Hughes | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1.299 |
| 18 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1.371 |
| 19 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NED | Trident | +1.923 |
| 20 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +2.277 |
| 21 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +2.733 |
| 22 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | +3.090 |
The race weekend begins on Saturday where the 22 drivers will take to the track for the Sprint Race.