Oliver Bearman claimed a stunning pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Formula 2 on Friday, as he set the fastest time with a damaged car.
The Briton beat Enzo Fittipaldi to the top of the time sheets by just over a hundredth of a second, with Theo Pourchaire taking third ahead of Frederik Vesti.
Dennis Hauger, who was looking on for pole until the final run, will start Sunday’s race fifth ahead of Jehan Daruvala, Jak Crawford and Victor Martins.
Zane Maloney and Richard Verschoor rounded out the top 10, and the Dutchman will start Saturday’s sprint in first.
READ MORE: Bearman heads Hadjar in F2 practice
After a slightly delayed half hour of qualifying after a busy Formula 1 practice session, Brad Benavides made an early exit when he sent his Charouz car into the barrier at Turn 1.
Jack Doohan had sailed off at the same corner moments before, while Victor Martins did the same shortly after.
Following the subsequent red flag stoppage, Isaak Hadjar damaged his suspension by clipping the wall on the inside of Turn Five as Oliver Bearman set the early pace.
The Frenchman’s car was quickly patched up by his Hitech team though and got him out for the final 10 minutes of the session.
Bearman made contact with the barrier on the exit of Turn Two late on, slightly knocking his steering off centre.
But that did not affect his pace as a marvellous late run took him to the top of the timing screens.
The 17-year-old is the fourth polesitter in as many races this season, and two feature races in Bahrain and Australia have been won from pole this campaign by Theo Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa respectively.
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