Hungaroring F2: Ferrari's Leclerc sets qualifying pole run record
Ferrari Formula 1 junior driver Charles Leclerc set a new outright record for consecutive Formula 2 qualifying pole positions as he topped the Hungaroring session ahead of Oliver Rowland
Leclerc, who was quickest in practice earlier on Friday, finished with a best time of 1m26.268s as his closest rival in the championship - Artem Markelov - completed the top three behind Rowland.
Prema driver Leclerc has now taken pole position at all seven rounds of the 2017 F2 championship that have taken place so far.
Rowland was the first driver to take to the Hungaroring circuit and held provisional pole for much of the session having topped the times after the initial runs.
Leclerc was among a group of four drivers - which also included ART Grand Prix's Alexander Albon and Arden International pair Norman Nato and Sean Gelael - to wait for a gap in the action on the narrow circuit before entering the fray.
But when they did, with Leclerc last in the train, Gelael spun at Turn 1 and could not get going again, which brought out the red flags.
That meant 19-year-old Leclerc did not set a representative lap time until there were just over 10 minutes of the 30-minute session remaining, but when he did he went quickest, 0.463 seconds faster than Rowland.
That was the Monegasque driver's eventual pole-winning margin as Rowland could not improve on his final lap, which included a major save at the exit of Turn 9 as the rear of his car snapped left.
Leclerc abandoned his last effort and celebrated beating Stoffel Vandoorne's record run of seven poles set across the 2014-'15 seasons, in what was then called GP2, with his Prema team in the pitlane.
Jordan King finished fourth for MP Motorsport, ahead of Antonio Fuoco, Nato and Nicholas Latifi - who looked set to improve his best time before catching Sergio Sette Camara at the final corner and losing out.
Nyck de Vries - whose car was repaired by his Rapax team after a practice crash - ended up eighth, as Nobuharu Matsushita and Sergio Canamasas rounded out the top 10.
F2 debutant Santino Ferrucci achieved his pre-qualifying aim of being near 10th place as he qualified 11th, ahead of Albon and Luca Ghiotto in the second Russian Time-run car.
Gelael's spin meant he was the only driver not to set a representative lap time and he finished in 20th place as a result.
QUALIFYING RESULT:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oliver Rowland | DAMS | 1m26.731s | - |
| 2 | Artem Markelov | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m26.806s | 0.075s |
| 3 | Jordan King | MP Motorsport | 1m26.849s | 0.118s |
| 4 | Antonio Fuoco | Prema Racing | 1m26.885s | 0.154s |
| 5 | Norman Nato | Pertamina Arden | 1m26.968s | 0.237s |
| 6 | Nicholas Latifi | DAMS | 1m26.973s | 0.242s |
| 7 | Nyck de Vries | Rapax | 1m27.026s | 0.295s |
| 8 | Nobuharu Matsushita | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.103s | 0.372s |
| 9 | Sergio Canamasas | Rapax | 1m27.129s | 0.398s |
| 10 | Santino Ferrucci | Trident | 1m27.139s | 0.408s |
| 11 | Alexander Albon | ART Grand Prix | 1m27.221s | 0.490s |
| 12 | Luca Ghiotto | RUSSIAN TIME | 1m27.238s | 0.507s |
| 13 | Robert Visoiu | Campos Racing | 1m27.301s | 0.570s |
| 14 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing | 1m27.339s | 0.608s |
| 15 | Sergio Sette Camara | MP Motorsport | 1m27.492s | 0.761s |
| 16 | Louis Deletraz | Racing Engineering | 1m27.582s | 0.851s |
| 17 | Gustav Malja | Racing Engineering | 1m27.804s | 1.073s |
| 18 | Nabil Jeffri | Trident | 1m28.248s | 1.517s |
| - | Sean Gelael | Pertamina Arden | 1m46.783s | 20.052s |
| - | Charles Leclerc | Prema Racing | - | - |
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