Formula 2: Qualified by Oliver Berman

The victory in Monaco last Sunday, as well as the pole position in qualifying on the city circuit, for which two extra prize points are also awarded in Formula 2, allowed Frederic Vesti to take the lead in the individual classification.

But his lead over Theo Purscher was just five points, and it’s clear the Danish driver was keen to continue a string of successful performances at Barcelona.

He first applied at the very beginning of the weekend when he showed the best time in practice, so it was interesting to see if he could shine in qualifying when it really matters. Looking ahead, let’s say that pole was indeed won by the Prema Racing driver, but not by Vesti, but by his partner.

At the very beginning of the session, when the riders were just trying to get into the right rhythm, Theo Purscher, Zane Maloney, Jack Duane, who had no luck this season, took turns on the first line of protocol, but Vesti had no rush to get to the track. Also active was Oliver Berman, Prema’s second rider, currently in 8th place in the individual standings. Apparently, their team preferred to wait until the traffic eased.

Frederick started his attempt after more than ten minutes of the half-hour session had passed. Meanwhile, Dennis Hauger became the first to show a more or less representative result, having completed a circle in 1 minute. 23,923 seconds. Vesti’s first fast lap was almost three-tenths worse, but Berman showed a faster pace and moved straight up to fourth.

Perhaps Hauger could have circled even faster on the next attempt, but in one of the corners Theo Purscher clearly interfered with him – the stewards drew attention to this incident, but decided to investigate after the session.

There were about ten minutes to go before the end of qualifying, when first Purscher moved to the front row and then Enzo Fittipaldi, who completed a 1-minute lap. 23,623 seconds. When the Prema riders got back on track after getting fresh Soft tyres, they managed to make a single attempt, and Berman really showed an excellent time, blocking Fittipaldi’s result by a few hundredths.

Duane tried to go a lap faster, and the second sector was indeed the absolute best for him, but in the final corner the Aussie’s car destabilized, he lost some time and couldn’t get above the third line.

And what about the leader of the personal classification? Unfortunately Vesti finished qualifying with only an eighth result, perhaps a small consolation for him will be a start from the second row in Saturday’s sprint, as in Formula 2 the starting grid is formed on a partially reversed principle.

Pole went to Oliver Berman, who completed the lap in 1 minute. 546 seconds, and no one managed to block this time. Accordingly, the Briton received two extra points for his performance (by the way, for the second time this season, and for the first time he won qualifying in Baku), although the Carlin team tried to protest this result – on the video replay it seemed that in one of the corners the Prema racer’s car was four wheels off the track. But the stewards, after looking closely, decided that Berman was about to commit a foul, but still didn’t violate anything.

And from pole on Saturday Amaury Kordil, the Belgian racer Virtuosi Racing will start – today he was tenth.