Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2
Charles Leclerc made it two-from-two in Formula 2 qualifying after snatching pole position late on at Barcelona.
The Prema-run Ferrari protege was second at the mid-point of the session following the first runs – behind Jordan King – before Nyck de Vries and then Luca Ghiotto went quickest after returning to the track.
Following a red flag with five minutes remaining to move the stranded car of Nabil Jeffri, Russian Time driver Ghiotto appeared on course for his maiden pole, only for Leclerc to deny?him after the chequered flag, his effort of 1m29.285 being 0.198 seconds faster than the Italian’s best.
De Vries ended up third ahead of King, while?Alex Albon edged out Oliver Rowland for fifth.
Norman Nato took seventh followed by Leclerc’s Prema team-mate Antonio Fuoco, Nicholas Latifi and Nobuharu Matsushita.
Roberto Merhi – standing in for Stefano Coletti at Campos – qualified 15th for his debut, three places behind team-mate Ralph Boschung who joins fellow Swiss rookie Louis Deletraz on the sixth row of the grid.
Bahrain feature race winner Artem Markelov could only manage 13th in the other?Russian Time car, while veteran Johnny Cecotto will line up for the feature race in 16th – the same position from which he won the same race in 2014.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Prema Racing | 1:29.285 | 7 | |
| 2 | Luca Ghiotto | Russian Time | 1:29.478 | 0.193 | 10 |
| 3 | Nyck de Vries | Rapax | 1:29.550 | 0.265 | 10 |
| 4 | Jordan King | MP Motorsport | 1:29.585 | 0.300 | 9 |
| 5 | Alex Albon | ART Grand Prix | 1:29.732 | 0.447 | 10 |
| 6 | Oliver Rowland | DAMS | 1:29.744 | 0.459 | 9 |
| 7 | Norman Nato | Arden | 1:29.790 | 0.505 | 7 |
| 8 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Racing | 1:29.834 | 0.549 | 8 |
| 9 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1:29.885 | 0.600 | 9 |
| 10 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1:29.975 | 0.690 | 9 |
| 11 | Louis Deletraz | Racing Engineering | 1:30.046 | 0.761 | 10 |
| 12 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1:30.065 | 0.780 | 10 |
| 13 | Artem Markelov | Russian Time | 1:30.177 | 0.892 | 8 |
| 14 | Sergio Sette C?mara | MP Motorsport | 1:30.231 | 0.946 | 10 |
| 15 | Roberto Merhi | Campos Racing | 1:30.389 | 1.104 | 8 |
| 16 | Johnny Cecotto | Rapax | 1:30.441 | 1.156 | 9 |
| 17 | Sean Gelael | Arden | 1:30.772 | 1.487 | 9 |
| 18 | Gustav Malja | Racing Engineering | 1:30.814 | 1.529 | 9 |
| 19 | Sergio Canamasas | Trident | 1:31.148 | 1.863 | 9 |
| 20 | Nabil Jeffri | Trident | 1:32.303 | 3.018 | 6 |