F2 Australia: Iwasa secures pole in disrupted wet qualifying

The DAMS driver was quick from the off, tackling torrential downpours before setting a 1m45.118s to top the timesheets for his first pole position since Abu Dhabi last season.

He went quickest at the halfway mark and despite being briefly demoted by ART driver Theo Pourchaire, reclaimed the top spot before a crash from third-placed Martins saw the session end three minutes early.

Home favourite Jack Doohan, who led the morning's practice session, was first out amid torrid conditions, telling his engineer that he was aquaplaning before adding "it is so bad".

By the time he had made it to the end of his first lap, the session had been stopped, with crashes throughout the field.

Ollie Bearman had a huge shunt into the wall along the back straight in his Prema-run car, the Briton smashing his front wing on the way to Turn 9, but was able to rejoin the session after the stoppage.

Fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Arthur Leclerc (DAMS) had a spin at Turn 9, with Red Bull junior Jak Crawford (Hitech) losing a front wing.

After a 15-minute stoppage, the rain had somewhat subsided, and despite poor visibility, the session resumed.

Alpine Academy member Doohan set an early benchmark of 1m52.238s before Saudi Arabia feature race winner Frederik Vesti (Prema) surpassed him by two seconds.

Ayumu Iwasa, DAMS

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Virtuosi's Doohan improved the next time around but was quickly toppled by Isack Hadjar (Hitech) as Martins slotted into second.

Iwasa took the lead at the halfway mark with a 1m46.376s, before Martins put in the first sub-1m46s lap to take the lead next, with a 1m45.736s.

Team-mate Pourchaire went quicker by 0.001s but Iwasa then shaved 0.6s off the Frenchman's time to assume the top spot prior to a crash from Martins at Turns 5 and 6 that curtailed the session.

Hadjar will line up fourth ahead of fellow rookie Zane Maloney (Rodin Carlin), with Bearman sixth.

Dennis Hauger will start on reverse-grid pole for Saturday's sprint race for MP Motorsport ahead of Kush Maini (Campos Racing) and Leclerc.

F2 Australia Qualifying Results

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	1'45.118
2	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	1'45.732	0.614
3	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	1'45.736	0.618
4	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1'46.037	0.919
5	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	1'46.045	0.927
6	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	1'46.058	0.940
7	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	1'46.309	1.191
8	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	1'46.530	1.412
9	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1'46.687	1.569
10	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	1'46.737	1.619
11	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	1'46.859	1.741
12	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	1'46.896	1.778
13	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam	1'46.899	1.781
14	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	1'47.194	2.076
15	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	1'47.266	2.148
16	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	1'47.267	2.149
17	Roman Staněk	Trident	1'47.470	2.352
18	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'47.533	2.415
19	Clement Novalak	Trident	1'47.578	2.460
20	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	1'47.989	2.871
21	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	1'48.198	3.080
22	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	1'50.122	5.004
View full results