ART’s Christian Lundgaard claimed a maiden Formula 2 pole position after pipping DAMS driver Dan Ticktum to top spot by a tiny margin in Friday’s qualifying session at Mugello.
Lundgaard set a best time of 1m30.133s, just five thousandths of a second quicker than Dan Ticktum, with championship leader Callum Ilott less than one tenth behind in third for Virtuosi.
Marcus Armstrong set the pace early on in the 30-minute session, before ART team-mate Lundgaard jumped to the top with a time of 1m30.205s on his second flying lap. Ticktum also improved to go second fastest ahead of MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich and Friday practice pacesetter Juri Vips in the second DAMS machine.
Lundgaard went faster still on his second qualifying run, as did Ticktum, but it was Lundgaard who held on to clinch pole after Ticktum failed to improve on his final lap, despite being quick in the middle-sector.
Ilott, sitting 11th after his first run, jumped to 3rd near the end, with championship rivals and fellow Ferrari juniors Robert Shwartzman and Mick Schumacher only managing the 9th and 15th fastest times for Prema. Schumacher had a wild spin through the gravel early in the session, rejoining after avoiding the barriers.
Armstrong, who slipped down to 10th after his early spell at the top, leapt up to fourth by the finish, less than 0.2s behind his pole-winning team-mate. Drugovich held on to fifth spot, ahead of Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala.
Vips’ chances of starting near the front were compromised by a trip through the gravel on his second run, ending up in seventh ahead of Hitech’s Luca Ghiotto, who also found the gravel on his first run. Campos driver Jack Aitken bounced back from a crash in practice to qualify behind Shwartzman in tenth.
Red Bull and Honda protege Yuki Tsunoda was 11th fastest for Carlin, ahead of Louis Deletraz in the Charouz, VIrtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou and Hitech’s Nikita Mazepin.
Qualifying result
| 1 | Christian Lundgaard | ART | 1m30.133s |
| 2 | Dan Ticktum | DAMS | +0.005s |
| 3 | Callum Ilott | Virtuosi | +0.071s |
| 4 | Marcus Armstrong | ART | +0.184s |
| 5 | Felipe Drugovich | MP Motorsport | +0.206s |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | Carlin | +0.304s |
| 7 | Juri Vips | DAMS | +0.353s |
| 8 | Luca Ghiotto | Hitech | +0.375s |
| 9 | Robert Shwartzman | Prema | +0.394s |
| 10 | Jack Aitken | Campos | +0.400s |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | Carlin | +0.409s |
| 12 | Louis Deletraz | Charouz | +0.419s |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Virtuosi | +0.453s |
| 14 | Nikita Mazepin | Hitech | +0.459s |
| 15 | Mick Schumacher | Prema | +0.791s |
| 16 | Pedro Piquet | Charouz | +0.841s |
| 17 | Marino Sato | Trident | +0.998s |
| 18 | Roy Nissany | Trident | +1.026s |
| 19 | Artem Markelov | HWA | +1.198s |
| 20 | Giuliano Alesi | HWA | +1.212s |
| 21 | Nobuharu Matsushita | MP Motorsport | +1.828s |
| 22 | Guilherme Samaia | Campos | +2.226s |
Featured image credit: fiaformula2.com
