Martinius Stenshorne powers to pole for Feature Race 2 after Baku qualifying
Rodin Motorsport made it two Formula 2 poles, with Martinius Stenshorne grabbing pole position for Baku's Feature Race 2, after a pair of back-to-back qualifying sessions. He headlined Baku's second qualifying session of the weekend.
The Norwegian driver took pole by a massive margin of 0.445 seconds from qualifying stars Alex Dunne and Rafael Câmara.
It was PREMA Racing's Mari Boya and ART's Kush Maini who rounded out the top five, setting quick laps right at the end. Campos' Noel León and Trident's Laurens van Hoepen followed suit in sixth and seventh.
Championship leader Nikola Tsolov, ART's Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and PREMA Racing's Sebastián Montoya rounded out the top 10, setting the grid for Saturday's Feature Race 2 along the way.
AS IT UNFOLDED - F2 Qualifying 2 in Baku
Not long after Alex Dunne took pole for Rodin Motorsport in Qualifying 1, drivers and teams got back underway onto the streets of Baku, for the second 20-minute session of the day.
Drivers would eventually aim to carry over the momentum from the first qualifying session, given the 10-minute gap between both. AIX Racing's Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. took advantage of the situation, setting the first flying lap at a 1:56.960, kicking off the session.
But as the drivers crossed the line, the times once again began to come through. Gabriele Minì eventually came through to set a 1:55.479, but this was eclipsed multiple times. It was the PREMA Racing of Mari Boya who went quicker, before Dunne once again got to the top of the timesheets.
But the Campos duo looked strong after a quick turnaround. Noel León briefly put himself atop the standings, while Nikola Tsolov put himself third on the road. All eyes, though, were on Invicta's Rafael Câmara, who put in an excellent lap to climb up to the top of the timesheets, with a 1:54.227.
Hitech's Colton Herta experienced a high speed spin on the run down to Turn 15, managing to get going without any damage or triggering an interruptions.
The second flying laps would see little improvement, with the likes of Câmara and Sebastián Montoya experiencing lock ups at Turn 1.
The final moments of the session saw Campos opt for a split strategy, with Tsolov still waiting in the car to potentially set another flying lap, while León climbed out of his car and called it an end to his session.
Hitech's Ritomo Miyata climbed up to eighth, while Joshua Dürksen briefly put himself in ninth. However, this was not yet the end of the session, and with drivers still on flying laps, the order could still change.
The likes of Mari Boya and Kush Maini briefly lifted themselves up into the top three, recovering from slightly difficult outings, but the charge came from the Rodin duo of Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne.
While the Irishman set a lap time good enough to hold pole, it was for all of a few moments. Stenshorne had set a superb middle sector, sitting over four tenths clear of Dunne after two sectors. Another excellent slipstream and a strong final sector took him to the top spot, with a monster lap.
He topped the standings by four tenths of a second, with Rodin Motorsport marking a sensational Thursday in Baku. Here is how it all lined up after Qualifying 2 in Baku.
Classification - F2 Qualifying 2 (Baku)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Rafael Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix)
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
John Bennett (Trident)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Hiyu Yamakoshi (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
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