Home Formula 3Euroformula Bolukbasi takes first Euroformula pole in final qualifying of 2021

Bolukbasi takes first Euroformula pole in final qualifying of 2021

by Craig Woollard

Photo: Fotospeedy

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Cem Bolukbasi claimed his first car racing pole in the final Euroformula qualifying session of the season at Barcelona.

The 25-minute session featured several laps being deleted early on for track limits, notably at the final corner, and it was CryptoTower Racing Team’s Louis Foster who was most consistently at the top between lap deletions.

His effort of 1m35.885s was more than half a second quicker than anybody else could manage up until the middle of the session.

The field pitted for fresh tyres and returned to the track with eight minutes to go, but Foster was not able to find as much time as the rest of the field did, not helped by being held up by Double R Racing’s Josh Mason on his final flying lap.

Instead, it was Bolukbasi who came through to take his maiden pole position with a 1m35.342s.

Championship leader Cameron Das, meanwhile, was able to jump from the bottom of the order to take second place, meaning he will start ahead of title rival Foster. The Motopark driver was just over a tenth slower than Bolukbasi.

Carlin’s Enzo Trulli was third quickest, just ahead of CryptoTower’s Nazim Asman, while Foster was fifth.

Motopark’s Jak Crawford was sixth ahead of Mason, who aborted his final lap, and Motopark’s Christian Mansell was eighth. All three showed the pace during qualifying to take pole.

VAR’s Casper Stevenson and Rafael Villagomez rounded out the top 10.

Brad Benavides and Filip Kaminiarz – the latter not finding much pace until the final effort – were next up.

Guest driver Sebastian Alvarez was 13th fastest ahead of his debut, while fellow guest and newcomer Dexter Patterson was last of the runners.

Qualifying results

Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Cem Bolukbasi Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.342s 11
2 Cameron Das Motopark 1m35.458s +0.116s 10
3 Enzo Trulli Carlin 1m35.562s +0.220s 12
4 Nazim Azman CryptoTower 1m35.585s +0.243s 11
5 Louis Foster CryptoTower 1m35.656s +0.314s 10
6 Jak Crawford Motopark 1m35.703s +0.361s 10
7 Josh Mason Double R Racing 1m35.708s +0.366s 12
8 Christian Mansell Motopark 1m35.790s +0.448s 11
9 Casper Stevenson Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.798s +0.456s 12
10 Rafael Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 1m35.861s +0.519s 12
11 Brad Benavides Carlin 1m36.194s +0.852s 12
12 Filip Kaminiarz CryptoTower 1m36.202s +0.860s 10
13 Sebastian Alvarez Double R Racing 1m36.256s +0.914s 12
14 Francesco Simonazzi BVM Racing 1m36.328s +0.986s 11
15 Enzo Scionti Drivex School 1m36.836s +1.494s 12
16 Dexter Patterson Drivex School 1m36.985s +1.643s 12