Bahrain F2: Luca Ghiotto on pole for rebranded Virtuosi team
Luca Ghiotto took pole position for the Bahrain Formula 2 feature race, as DAMS' strategy of running early failed to pay off despite it topping most of the session
The DAMS drivers - Williams junior Nicholas Latifi ahead of McLaren test and development driver Sergio Sette Camara - looked like the team to beat after also locking out the top spots in practice, in the reverse order.
Latifi led before qualifying was halted with just over 18 minutes to go as debutante Callum Ilott crashed his Sauber Junior Team-run car between Turns 7 and 8. He'll now start 18th.
"Oh, I'm such an idiot," Ilott said after hitting the barrier to the left of the entry to Turn 8.
Settle Camara bailed out of a lap just before the stoppage for Ilott as he claimed to be confused by some yellow flags that were double waved and then only single waved.
After the restart, the two DAMS drivers and Renault junior Jack Aitken ran with 10 minutes to go - Aitken splitting the DAMS pair, with Latifi ahead.
But it became clear they had gone too early, and pre-season favourite Nyck de Vries put ART Grand Prix top as the DAMS drivers and Aitken could only watch in the pits after using up their tyres.
De Vries was then jumped by Carlin's Louis Deletraz, who looked like he had pole before Ghiotto made it a perfect return to the team previously known as Russian Time but now rebranded as Virtuosi. He had raced for Campos last year.
It meant the top three were all drivers who have swapped teams, ex-Charouz driver Deletraz starting on the front row ahead of de Vries.
Latin held on for fourth, followed by Ghiotto's replacement at Campos, Aitken, while late surges from Nobuharu Matsushita (Carlin) and Prema's Sean Gelael boosted them ahead of Sette Camara - who tumbled to eighth.
Ralph Boschung - third in practice - sealed ninth for Trident ahead of Ferrari junior Mick Schumacher, who trailed his team-mate Gelael by over three tenths.
Qualifying times
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Luca Ghiotto | UNI-Virtuosi | 1m40.504s | - |
2 | Louis Deletraz | Carlin | 1m40.871s | 0.367s |
3 | Nyck de Vries | ART Grand Prix | 1m40.889s | 0.385s |
4 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1m40.964s | 0.460s |
5 | Jack Aitken | Campos Racing | 1m41.115s | 0.611s |
6 | Nobuharu Matsushita | Carlin | 1m41.137s | 0.633s |
7 | Sean Gelael | Prema Racing | 1m41.254s | 0.750s |
8 | Sergio Sette Camara | DAMS | 1m41.310s | 0.806s |
9 | Ralph Boschung | Trident | 1m41.505s | 1.001s |
10 | Mick Schumacher | Prema Racing | 1m41.583s | 1.079s |
11 | Anthoine Hubert | BWT Arden | 1m41.596s | 1.092s |
12 | Juan Manuel Correa | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1m41.722s | 1.218s |
13 | Nikita Mazepin | ART Grand Prix | 1m41.848s | 1.344s |
14 | Jordan King | MP Motorsport | 1m41.857s | 1.353s |
15 | Giuliano Alesi | Trident | 1m41.864s | 1.360s |
16 | Dorian Boccolacci | Campos Racing | 1m41.918s | 1.414s |
17 | Guanyu Zhou | UNI-Virtuosi | 1m42.123s | 1.619s |
18 | Callum Ilott | Sauber Junior Team by Charouz | 1m42.280s | 1.776s |
19 | Tatiana Calderon | BWT Arden | 1m42.810s | 2.306s |
20 | Mahaveer Raghunathan | MP Motorsport | 1m43.343s | 2.839s |
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments