Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
DAMS’ Dino Beganovic claimed his second pole position of the season in a stop-start Formula 2 qualifying session at the Madring interrupted by three red flags.
The Swedish driver pipped Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne to pole with Invicta Racing’s Rafael Camara rounding out the top three.
Drivers were keen to get used to the Madring circuit after losing large amounts of time in free practice following an incident for Tasanapol Inthraphuvusak which ruled the Thai driver out of the qualifying session.
Kush Maini was first to set a lap time but the ART Grand Prix driver found the wall at Turn 15 after a spin, bringing out the first red flag of the session. Prema’s Sebastian Montoya also found the wall in a separate incident at the chicane but recovered to the pitlane, albeit with suspension damage.
When running resumed it was Dunne who went fastest with a time of 1m46.330s. Beganovic looked set to topple the Irishman but missed out by 0.212s. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov then beat Dunne’s time by just 0.002s to go top.
Tsolov just managed to complete his lap before the sesssion was halted once again after Van Amersfoort Racing’s Nico Varrone found the barrier at Turn 19.
When the session resumed, Dunne returned to the front with a superb lap, his time of 1m45.416s putting the Rodin driver almost a full second clear of Tsolov. His team-mate Martinius Stenshorne slotted briefly into third before being demoted by the Trident duo of Laurens Van Hoepen and John Bennett, although the Dutch driver was still 0.736s shy of Dunne’s best mark.
With ten minutes remaining the DAMS duo of Roman Bilinski and Beganovic found time, Bilinski going second with a 1m45.768s before the Ferrari junior went top, beating Dunne’s time by 0.234s.
The Swede bettered his time on his next tour, to go 0.838s clear of Dunne although his teammate was pushed back to fourth by MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Mini.
Bennett set a purple opening sector but found the wall in spectacular fashion at Turn 11 to bring his qualifying to an end and bring out another red flag with five minutes remaining.
AIX’s Emerson Fittipaldi moved up to second when the green flag set off a final battle for top spot. Dunne and Beganovic were s0on again trading best times, with Beganovic emerging on top with a lap of 1m44.331s, 0.230s clear of the Rodin driver.
Dunne was unable to improve further while anu further improvements were thwarted after Hitech’s Colton Herta found the wall having set a personal best in the first sector.
A late effort brought Camara up to third, 0.522s adrift of top spot, with his championship rival Tsolov behind the second Rodin entry of Martinius Stenshorne in fifth.
The hero of Monza a week ago, double winner Joshua Duerksen had to settle for 17th position, the second-slowest of those completing a meaningful lap.
Fittipaldi took pole for Saturday’s reverse grid race with tenth place, where he will line up alongside Hitech’s Ritomo Miyata, penalties permitting.