Carlin’s Lando Norris claimed pole position for the opening Formula 2 race of the year during a thrilling qualifying session beneath the lights at Sakhir.
Reigning F3 champion Norris, recently appointed to the role of McLaren's reserve driver, took the four points on offer after a stunning late lap moved him ahead of compatriot George Russell.
Russell had opened an advantage over his rivals after improving on his initial benchmark, clocking a time of 1:41.823, which the bulk of his opponents failed to beat.
However, on his final hot lap Norris recorded a 1:41.761s, despite running wide through Turn 15, which left him 0.062s ahead of reigning GP3 champion Russell.
Alexander Albon – whose deal with DAMS is currently only for this weekend – remained a contender throughout and wound up third, while Nyck de Vries hauled himself up the order from 18th to take fourth with a last-gasp effort.
Louis Deletraz secured fifth place for newcomer Charouz, while Norris’ Carlin team-mate Sergio Sette Camara was sixth, ahead of Honda-backed pairing Nirei Fukuzumi (Arden) and Tadasuke Makino (Russian Time).
Jack Aitken had initially been second to Russell, raising hopes of an all-ART front-row, but was shuffled down to ninth by late improvements elsewhere, while Maximilian Gunther rounded out the top 10 in a closely-contested session, as 16 of the 20 participants were covered by just seven-tenths of a session.
Outside of that group was 2017 runner-up Artem Markelov; last year’s Feature Race victor was a lowly 17th after a scruffy session.
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