Home Featured Drugovich leads Fittipaldi in Spa F2 qualifying

Drugovich leads Fittipaldi in Spa F2 qualifying

by Bethonie Waring

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Championship leader Felipe Drugovich took his first Formula 2 pole position since Monaco as he led a Brazilian one-two in Spa-Francorchamps qualifying.

It was mixed conditions in Belgium, with a damp track early on, but times rapidly tumbled after an early red flag.

Jack Doohan was the first driver to run into issues on the greasy circuit, spinning on his opening lap. He was able to avoid contact, though, and returned to the pits. Shortly afterwards, Juri Vips spun at La Source and couldn’t get going again, bringing out the red flag before anybody could set a representative lap time.

When the session began properly, Marcus Armstrong hit the top of the times with a lap time of 2m00.353s. More than two seconds would be shaved off that time before the chequered flag.

Drugovich was the first driver to go underneath 2 minutes, setting a time of 1m59.990s. He wouldn’t stay there for long, with Amaury Cordeel, Ralph Boschung, Jehan Daruvala and Jack Doohan all taking turns at the top of the order.

Finally, in the closing stages of the session, Drugovich managed a time of 1m58.232s, putting himself back at the top of the order. There were other improvements after Drugovich’s final flying lap, but none would challenge the MP Motorsport driver.

Enzo Fittipaldi jumped up the order late on to go second quickest 0.383s behind Drugovich.

Logan Sargeant also improved late, putting himself third ahead of Doohan and David Beckmann. Beckmann had been on a strong lap earlier in the session, with a purple second sector, but hit traffic at the final chicane and ran wide to avoid contact.

A number of drivers ended the session under investigation for impeding, including Sargeant and Liam Lawson.

Lawson would finish the session sixth, ahead of Richard Verschoor and Theo Pourchaire. Daruvala and Boschung completed the top 10.

Qualifying result
Pos Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport 1m58.232s 12
2 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz Racing System 1m58.615s +0.383s 11
3 Logan Sargeant Carlin 1m58.781s +0.549s 10
4 Jack Doohan Virtuosi 1m58.783s +0.551s 10
5 David Beckmann Van Amersfoort Racing 1m58.797s +0.565s 11
6 Liam Lawson Carlin 1m58.976s +0.744s 10
7 Richard Verschoor Trident 1m59.018s +0.786s 12
8 Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 1m59.061s +0.829s 11
9 Jehan Daruvala Prema 1m59.114s +0.882s 10
10 Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 1m59.126s +0.894s 12
11 Dennis Hauger Prema 1m59.161s +0.929s 10
12 Marcus Armstrong Hitech GP 1m59.177s +0.945s 10
13 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 1m59.179s +0.947s 10
14 Frederik Vesti ART Grand Prix 1m59.284s +1.052s 11
15 Roy Nissany DAMS 1m59.302s +1.070s 10
16 Clement Novalak MP Motorsport 1m59.380s +1.148s 10
17 Marino Sato Virtuosi 1m59.523s +1.291s 10
18 Calan Williams Trident 1m59.526s +1.294s 12
19 Lirim Zendeli Campos Racing 1m59.704s +1.472s 12
20 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 1m59.820s +1.588s 10
21 Tatiana Calderon Charouz Racing System 2m00.531s +2.299s 11
22 Juri Vips Hitech GP 2m36.671s +38.439s 2