Formula 2: Richard Ferschor wins pole in Monaco

Formula 2 qualifying in Monaco followed a more or less standard scenario typical of this phase of the season. Initially the riders were a bit cautious, but gradually increased their speed on the complex and treacherous Monaco city circuit, which does not forgive even the smallest mistakes.

As always in the youth series, to avoid unnecessary traffic problems, the drivers in Monaco were divided into two groups of 11 cars, and in the first group the protocol at the beginning of the session was led by Gabriel Bortoleto, who started from pole position in Imola.

However, his result was almost immediately surpassed by several riders, with Zach O’Sullivan moving into first place with a lap time of 1:22.202. But Bortoleto clearly improved and improved this figure by half a second, but then he overdid it and hit the barrier. Naturally, the rivals immediately took advantage of this.

During the session there was a rather scary moment: due to some problems, the Ritomo Miata slowed down, and when he drove very slowly through the tunnel and returned to the pits, Isaac Hadjar almost collided with him from behind. Fortunately, the French driver of Campos Racing was able to literally avoid the Japanese car at the last minute.

The session time for Group A ran out and Richard Vershord climbed to first place with a time of 1:21.283. The second time was shown by Hadjar, who was not upset by the episode with the Miata, and the participant of the Red Bull youth program lost just over a tenth to the Dutchman. The third fastest time in this group went to Franco Colapinto, who won the Saturday sprint in the previous stage, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli rose to fourth place.

After a short break, the racers of the second group began to battle for pole. The special thing about qualifying in Monaco is that by the time Group B takes to the track, the condition of the asphalt surface is slightly better, and this generally makes for faster laps. But there are no rules without exceptions.

Although the first half of qualifying was uneventful, the second session was almost immediately interrupted by red flags due to an accident involving Rafael Villagomez, the Mexican debutant of the Van Ameersvoort Racing team. He crashed the car quite badly, made a mistake on braking and missed Turn 1.

Everyone returned to the pits, but this incident obviously took everyone out of their normal rhythm. The marshals began to evacuate the broken equipment and clean the track, which was heavily littered with carbon debris, and after some time the session resumed.

The first to show a more or less representative time was Victor Martin, a French racer from the Alpine youth program, who took part in the ART Grand Prix. He completed the lap in 1:22.690, but it’s clear this was just the beginning.

Zane Maloney, the series’ individual championship leader, improved Martin’s time by more than seven-tenths, but the Frenchman added a time of 1:21.744 on the second fastest lap. By the way, it is entirely possible that Dennis Hauger could have driven faster than him, but Roman Stanek clearly interfered with him and the stewards began to investigate this incident.

By the way, it was the Czech Trident rider who climbed to first place at this stage of the session, but Hauger managed to complete the lap in the second fastest time. Curiously, Stanek noticed the bump stop on his next attempt, after which he complained bitterly and apologized to the team on the radio.

The battle continued and Martin, who gave everything in his last lap, showed a good time, the best in group B – 1:21.310, but it was still inferior to the result of Richard Ferschor, who won the pole.

Seeing that it was he who won the qualification in Monaco, the Dutchman rejoiced, and the Trident team, of course, shared with him their sincere joy. However, Victor Martin wasn’t too angry either, as he will start from the front row on Sunday.

Because the starting grid will be formed according to a rather bizarre algorithm this weekend, Taylor Barnard, who recorded the fifth fastest time in Group B, will start from pole in tomorrow’s short race on Saturday.

Qualifying results