Free Practice-
Victor Martins left it until the last minute but was the man to beat in the final Free Practice of the 2023 Formula 2 season.
The ART Grand Prix driver ended the first session of the weekend on top after setting a 1:37.389.
Zane Maloney put Rodin Carlin second with a late effort of his own while Theo Pourchaire kicked off a potentially title-winning weekend as third quickest. Title rivals Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vest finished seventh and ninth respectively.
Newcomers Paul Aron and Franco Colapinto were on the track early to get some mileage under their belts ahead of their debut. The latter suffered a spin coming through the right-hander of turn 11 in the early running but was able to avoid the barriers and continue on his way.
After a relatively quiet start to the session, the circuit filled up quickly approaching half an hour remaining as the majority of the field headed onto track. Nissany lowered the time to beat to a 1:38.492 on his next flying lap to lead by 0.6s from Maloney.
The red flags were out soon after as Arthur Leclerc came to a halt in his DAMS between turns 1 and 2.
Doohan briefly went to P1 after running resumed, but it was beaten in quick succession. Pourchaire was pipped by teammate Martins by 0.022s with the rookie setting a 1:38.219 to take the spot from the Championship leader.
The full top 10 are- P1: Martins, P2: Maloney, P3: Pourchaire, P4: Doohan, P5: Verschoor, P6: Boschung, P7: Iwasa, P8: Correa, P9: Vesti and P10: Maini.
Qualifying-
Invicta Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan secured the final pole position of the season with a 1:35.567, beating out Alpine Academy drivers Victor Martins and Kush Maini.
In the title fight, Theo Pourchaire has a difficult weekend ahead of him after missing the top 10 and ending qualifying down in 14th position. Direct rival, Frederik Vesti will start tomorrow’s Sprint Race from the reserve grid front row after ending the session in ninth.
Trident’s Roman Stanek was the first to get a time on the board with a 1:37.591. His effort didn’t stay top for long as Ayumu Iwasa went quickest with a 1:37.181, three tenths ahead of Amaury Cordeel.
Martins jumped straight back into things after topping Free Practice, launching himself 0.489s clear of the DAMS’ driver on a 1:36.692. Doohan sliced the ART Grand Prix driver’s advantage to two tenths, as Ralph Boschung and Maini slotted both Campos Racing cars inside the top four.
After a brief break in the pitlane, the field were back out with 16 minutes remaining. Iwasa regained the fastest time on a 1:36.085, and Martins’ response left him 0.008s adrift of the DAMS driver.
However, Doohan was on a charge, breaking into the 1:35s and rocketing up into provisional pole, two tenths ahead of Maini. Martins and Iwasa tried to find an answer for the Australian but couldn’t.
Doohan showed no signs of slowing down, bettering his previous effort to snatch pole by over two tenths.
The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Martins, P3: Maini, P4: Maloney, P5: Iwasa, P6: Hauger, P7: Verschoor, P8: Hadjar, P9: Vesti and P10: Fittipaldi.
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