Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Luke Browning took a maiden Formula 2 pole at Monza after rival Richard Verschoor crashed out and points leader Leonardo Fornaroli was halted by a technical issue.
With everyone hoping for a tow, there was a long wait for anybody to hit the track at the start of the session with Alex Dunne the first to blink. His first lap ended up being only 15th fastest, eight tenths of a second off the pace set by Kush Maini.
The first of three red flags followed when Gabriele Mini came to a halt on track. Cian Shields also stopped on his way back into the pit lane.
After the restart, Browning took top spot with a time of 1m32.390s with Verschoor slotting into second, 0.315s down.
Fornaroli then ground to a stop in Parabolica, seemingly stuck in a high gear, and triggering another red flag.
When the session resumed once more, the time remaining had been reduced to just six minutes.
Verschoor now found himself running first on track and without a slipstream, but after an additional warm-up lap was still looking quick, dropping only half a tenth in the first sector.
However, he then lost the rear of his car in the first Lesmo and crashed into the barriers on the inside, bringing an early end to the session.
With nobody able to improve, Browning secured pole with Verschoor second but at risk of losing his best time for causing a red flag. He had been 10th after his first lap at the start of the session, leaving him likely to drop into the second half of the field.
Maini’s early effort was good enough to finish third ahead of Roman Stanek and Oliver Goethe.
Dunne was able to improve in the second phase of flying laps and finished up sixth, in front of Arvid Lindblad, whose attempts to improve were foiled by an unplanned visit to the pits.
Joshua Duerksen was eighth while the final red flag kept Fornaroli in ninth in front of Sami Meguetounif. Dino Beganovic was 11th ahead of Jak Crawford and Victor Martins and could inherit pole for the sprint race if Verschoor loses his best time.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luke Browning | Hitech | 1m32.390s | 7 | |
| 2 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1m32.705s | +0.315s | 8 |
| 3 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 1m32.708s | +0.318s | 7 |
| 4 | Roman Stanek | Invicta Racing | 1m32.754s | +0.364s | 7 |
| 5 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 1m32.817s | +0.427s | 8 |
| 6 | Alex Dunne | Rodin Motorsport | 1m32.851s | +0.461s | 8 |
| 7 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos Racing | 1m32.881s | +0.491s | 6 |
| 8 | Joshua Duerksen | AIX Racing | 1m32.963s | +0.573s | 6 |
| 9 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta Racing | 1m32.993s | +0.603s | 4 |
| 10 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 1m32.997s | +0.607s | 6 |
| 11 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech | 1m33.019s | +0.629s | 7 |
| 12 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 1m33.064s | +0.674s | 7 |
| 13 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1m33.069s | +0.679s | 8 |
| 14 | Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | 1m33.148s | +0.758s | 7 |
| 15 | Gabriele Mini | Prema Racing | 1m33.195s | +0.805s | 3 |
| 16 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m33.246s | +0.856s | 7 |
| 17 | John Bennett | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m33.558s | +1.168s | 7 |
| 18 | Ritomo Miyata | ART Grand Prix | 1m33.572s | +1.182s | 8 |
| 19 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 1m33.593s | +1.203s | 3 |
| 20 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin Motorsport | 1m33.667s | +1.277s | 8 |
| 21 | Max Esterson | Trident | 1m39.952s | +7.562s | 7 |
| 22 | Sebastian Montoya | Prema Racing | 1m45.473s | +13.083s | 8 |