Campos Racing’s Noel Leon stormed to Formula 2 pole position at the iconic Red Bull Ring for the Austrian Grand Prix.
A stunning lap that was set whilst his rivals were in the pit lane secured an important pole position. Nevertheless, his rivals put up an intense fight in the final minute of the session. Whilst not enough to beat pole, Alex Dunne and Nikola Tsolov will challenge on Sunday for the race victory.
Tomorrow’s sprint race pole sitter will be Sebastian Montoya, who finished tenth in the qualifying session. Alongside the Colombian will be John Bennett, who just snuck his way into the top 10.
At the end of the first flying laps, Campos led the field away. Noel Leon set the pace with a 1:16.283, with Nikola Tsolov a hundredth off his team-mate’s lap time. Championship Leader Gabriele Mini was able to push his MP Motorsport car into third, eight hundredths behind Leon.
Whilst his rivals were unable to match his pace, Leon set an even faster time, pushing himself a tenth clear of Tsolov and Mini behind. However, it wasn’t for long because reigning Formula 3 champion Rafael Camara went even faster. The Ferrari-backed driver set a 1:16.052, six tenths clear of Leon.
Final runs for pole position
Whilst most of the field sat in the pit lane, Leon and Campos decided to make the most of the clear track. The Mexican set a flying lap to top the timing sheets, more than half a second quicker than his rival Camara’s earlier lap time.
As the clock ticked down, drivers began to make their way back onto the circuit with ten minutes remaining in the session. Whilst Leon sat in the pit lane nervously awaiting his fate.
Free Practice leader Ollie Goethe was the first to set a flying lap time in the second run. The German driver made his way into second; however, he was quickly demoted down to seventh as his rivals began to set their own times. Despite drivers setting faster times than their earlier runs, no one was able to match the pace of Leon out front.
Leon sailed to pole position, watching tentatively from the pit lane. Meanwhile, Campos secured a qualifying 1-3, with Tsolov third in the session.
Tomorrow’s sprint race will be led by PREMA’s Sebastian Montoya, who will start from reverse grid pole position.
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