Theo Pourchaire claimed a third career Formula 2 pole position despite farcical scenes in the 30-minute qualifying session at Monza.
When the session got underway, there was no movement in the pitlane for six minutes besides an exploratory lap from Zandvoort feature race winner Clement Novalak.
Early chess games in the pitlane meant it wasn’t until halfway through the session that the lap times started to be recorded. With each driver seeking a tow, it was Victor Martins who set the early benchmark of 1:32.423.
Championship leader Theo Pourchaire was able to displace his ART teammate from the top of the leader board clocking a 1:32.328. Martins’ laptime would then be deleted, promoting Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar into the top three.
The waiting games continued for most as Josh Mason and Ralph Boschung both got out on track early to avoid the chaos behind.
As the remainder of the field returned to the track for one final run, Jak Crawford was left stranded in the pitlane as fire extinguishers were seen around the Hitech. Crawford would return to the car but not in time to complete a lap.
Drivers continued to jostle over track position as 18 cars rounded the Parabolica at the same time. Maini, Verschoor, Doohan and Correa all missed out on setting a lap time after losing track position to those surrounding.
Boschung made use of his clear track to jump into the top ten as it stood and the gamble of hitting the track early paid off as the vast majority of drivers failed to improve their lap time, ironically due to the traffic they had created.
The jostling meant that Theo Pourchaire’s earlier benchmark would not be beaten as he claimed his third career F2 pole. The Prema of Bearman remained second.
Roman Stanek was one of the only drivers to improve amid the final lap chaos, pipping Hadjar and Martins who completed the top five.
Maini qualified sixth ahead of Crawford, Vesti, Verschoor and Boschung who takes reverse grid pole for Saturday’s sprint.
