Oscar Piastri took his second FIA Formula 2 pole position in a row after topping Friday’s qualifying session at Monza.
The Prema driver will start at the front in Sunday’s feature race, and extends his points lead over Virtuosi’s Guanyu Zhou to nine points.
ART’s Theo Pourchaire set an early benchmark of 1m33.205s in 30-minute session, before free practice pacesetter Dan Ticktum moved to the top of the timesheets for Carlin. But the Briton only remained in front for a few seconds, with Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung lapping quicker.
Piastri then bettered Boschung’s effort by 0.2s to lead at the halfway stage, while Ticktum improved his time but remained third.
The battle for pole continued in the final minutes after drivers took on fresh tyres. Hitech’s Liam Lawson bettered Piastri’s benchmark, as did Zhou and Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala. But Piasti responded with a time of 1m32.199 to reclaim top spot.
Daruvala was second ahead of Zhou, Lawson and Virtuosi’s Felipe Drugovich. Boschung was sixth ahead of Pourchaire and Ticktum.
Hitech’s Juri Vips was ninth, while Campos Racing’s David Beckmann was 10th and will start from the front in Saturday’s first reversed-grid sprint race.
Prema’s Robert Shwartzman was 12th, ahead of debutant Enzo Fittipaldi (Charouz). Jake Hughes was 16th on his F2 return for HWA, with the top 20 drivers separated by less than a second.
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
