Alex Dunne takes pole position for Feature Race 1 in intense Baku qualifying
Rodin Motorsport's Alex Dunne will start the first Formula 2 Feature Race from pole position, as Baku's supersized weekend got underway on Thursday with a pair of qualifying sessions. He took pole position ahead of teammate Martinius Stenshorne and Campos' Noel León, who round out the top three in Qualifying 1.
Further back, it will be ART's Kush Maini and Invicta's Rafael Câmara starting fourth and fifth, with timely laps securing strong starting positions for them for Friday's races.
The PREMA Racing duo of Mari Boya and Sebastián Montoya managed to put themselves sixth and seventh, ahead of DAMS' Dino Beganovic, while Trident's Laurens van Hoepen and championship leader Nikola Tsolov rounded out the top 10, setting the grid for Friday's sprint and Feature Race 1.
AS IT UNFOLDED - 20 minutes of Qualifying 1 in Baku
F2's regular 30-minute qualifying session was split into two 20-minute sessions in Baku, with drivers set to face an intense test of nailing two back-to-back, in order to set themselves up in the best possible position for the race weekend.
As expected, with 10 fewer minutes, the grid of 22 drivers found themselves far more initiative in order to set the lap times to determine the starting order for both races.
The start to F2's much anticipated pair of sessions was delayed, though, with repairs being made to the circuit at the tricky Turn 15. It proved to be a tantalising wait, almost setting hype before the session's commencement.
The session eventually got underway at 14:15 local time (11:15 BST), 15 minutes from the original starting time. Drivers immediately got onto the track once the 20 minutes of qualifying commenced.
As the drivers got comfortable with the track, the times began to tumble. MP Motorsport's Ollie Goethe set the first flying lap at a 1:59.374, but drivers had gone about two to three seconds quicker on their laps.
Rodin Motorsport's Alex Dunne eventually set the quickest lap time on the drivers' first runs, at a 1:55.383, ahead of ART's Kush Maini and teammate Martinius Stenshorne. Invicta's Rafael Câmara took a slipstream off the driver ahead, and eventually came through sixth.
But things changed rapidly on the second flying laps for the drivers. With the slipstream being ever important around the circuit, drivers jostled for position heading through the infield section, before eventually starting their laps close to one another.
While drivers ahead were not setting the timesheets alight, Dunne still kept his time at the top. Stenshorne, though, climbed up to second with a tow off Gabriele Minì, while the Campos of Noel León ascended to third.
The likes of PREMA Racing's Mari Boya and Sebastián Montoya climbed up to fifth and sixth, ahead of Trident's Laurens van Hoepen. The trio sat ahead of the top two in the championship, Tsolov and Câmara, who failed to improve on their laps.
Drivers eventually stayed out on track, looking to find a third flying lap in their current set of tyres. However, a series of lock ups saw the likes of Dunne, Minì and Roman Bilinski all go off at Turn 1.
The balance of power swung on the final flying laps. Tsolov found himself behind a slower AIX Racing of Cian Shields, eventually forced to back off on his final flying lap. Câmara, on the other hand, received a timely slipstream from teammate Joshua Dürksen, allowing him to ascend to fifth on the road.
No driver would find any improvement on his final flying lap, apart from Dino Beganovic, who put his DAMS up into eighth in the order. The result eventually gave Dunne his first pole position, as he led a Rodin Motorsport 1-2 in qualifying.
Here's how the standings lined up after Qualifying 1 in Baku.
Classification - F2 Qualifying 1 (Baku)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Rafael Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
John Bennett (Trident)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
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