Dunne denies Martins F2 pole in Monaco by 0.003s

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Alex Dunne took pole position by just 0.003 seconds in Formula 2’s eventful qualifying session in Monaco.

The Rodin Motorsport driver was in the second group on track and improved on his final lap, setting a 1m21.142s to beat the first group’s pacesetter Victor Martins.

Moments later, Prema’s Sebastian Montoya spun at the exit of Swimming Pool, bringing out yellow flags and preventing those behind him on track from improving.

It was eventful for Dunne too. As his group prepared for their first flying laps, Dunne was battling for track position with Rafael Villagomez. The Van Amersfoort Racing driver put his car in the wall, and red flags waved before anybody had set a lap.

On the restart, Dunne was again struggling to find track space, but eventually cleared traffic to begin his flying laps.

He was the first driver in the 1m21s range, and led Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti and Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli, but at that point was more than half a second off ART Grand Prix driver Martins’ benchmark laptime.

Dunne improved with every lap until his all-important final flyer, which earned him his first F2 pole.

Fornaroli went second fastest but due to a lock-up was more than half a second slower than Dunne, and Montoya was third.

The lack of red flags meant he did not lose his fastest lap, but he still compromised several drivers who had to slow in the middle sector. Hitech GP’s Luke Browning was one of those who had to bail out of his lap, putting him fifth in the group behind DAMS’ Jak Crawford.

Marti had already aborted an earlier lap after locking up and going down an escape road. With no chance of improving on eighth in the group, it means he is will start 15th for Sunday’s feature race.

The first qualifying group had a simpler 16 minutes on track. Martins jumped to the top of the times early on and continued to find improvements throughout. Campos’s Arvid Lindblad and MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor both briefly held provisional pole, but Martins then outdid both by more than three tenths of a second.

Verschoor was in second place when the chequered flag waved, 0.375s behind Martins, with Lindblad and Prema’s Gabriele Mini just behind him on pace. DAMS’ Kush Maini was fifth fastest, meaning he will start on reversed-grid pole in Saturday’s sprint race.

Qualifying results