Laurens van Hoepen has attained his first pole position in Formula 2 during a qualifying session marked by interruptions in the championship’s debut in Montreal.
The Trident driver stood out in an intense day, where his performance exceeded that of Rafael Camara from Invicta Racing, who finished in second place, and Alex Dunne, who closed out the podium in third position.
Joshua Duerksen, Camara’s teammate at Invicta, was the first to set a competitive lap time, clocking in at 1m22.914s. Gabriele Mini, winner of the Miami race, improved this time with a 1m22.615s. Following this, Camara took the provisional lead with a time of 1m22.025s.
As the session progressed, the competition intensified. Nico Varrone from Van Amersfoort Racing took the lead prior to the intervention of Noel Leon, who also showed strong performance among the drivers. Van Hoepen, taking advantage of a strong start to the season, positioned himself in third place, followed by Dino Beganovic in fourth.
However, the session was interrupted by several incidents. Oliver Goethe caused the first red flag after losing control of his vehicle in the corner 3 and 4 area, crashing into the wall. Subsequently, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak repeated the situation, halting the qualifying session once again.
After a break while mechanics repaired the damaged vehicles, the drivers had a new opportunity to set good times. With only four minutes remaining, the competition was revitalized. Noel Leon briefly moved up to second place before being surpassed by Nikola Tsolov, but the real surprise came with Van Hoepen, who made a final effort and took the lead with an impressive time of 1m21.422s.
This pole represents the third success for Trident in the modern era of Formula 2, a feat they hadn’t achieved since the Baku race in 2024. Camara finished 0.267s too slow, while Duerksen ended up in second place next to his teammate.
Regarding the starting grid for the upcoming sprint, Mini has secured the pole for the reverse grid, with Villagomez and Leon completing the top positions.
Qualification Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Laurens van Hoepen | Trident | 1m21.422s | 18 | |
| 2 | Rafael Camara | Invicta Racing | 1m21.689s | +0.267s | 19 |
| 3 | Alex Dunne | Rodin Motorsport | 1m21.709s | +0.287s | 16 |
| 4 | Nikola Tsolov | Campos Racing | 1m21.734s | +0.312s | 19 |
| 5 | Martinius Stenshorne | Rodin Motorsport | 1m21.744s | +0.322s | 15 |
| 6 | Joshua Duerksen | Invicta Racing | 1m21.780s | +0.358s | 18 |
| 7 | John Bennett | Trident | 1m21.821s | +0.399s | 18 |
| 8 | Noel Leon | Campos Racing | 1m21.881s | +0.459s | 18 |
| 9 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m21.902s | +0.480s | 17 |
| 10 | Gabriele Mini | MP Motorsport | 1m21.971s | +0.549s | 16 |
| 11 | Emmo Fittipaldi | AIX Racing | 1m22.001s | +0.579s | 16 |
| 12 | Nico Varrone | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m22.078s | +0.656s | 15 |
| 13 | Kush Maini | ART Grand Prix | 1m22.085s | +0.663s | 17 |
| 14 | Dino Beganovic | DAMS | 1m22.207s | +0.785s | 16 |
| 15 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | ART Grand Prix | 1m22.221s | +0.799s | 13 |
| 16 | Roman Bilinski | DAMS | 1m22.276s | +0.854s | 16 |
| 17 | Ritomo Miyata | Hitech | 1m22.356s | +0.934s | 15 |
| 18 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 1m22.445s | +1.023s | 16 |
| 19 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 1m22.705s | +1.283s | 11 |
| 20 | Sebastian Montoya | Prema Racing | 1m22.809s | +1.387s | 15 |
| 21 | Colton Herta | Hitech | 1m22.857s | +1.435s | 15 |
| 22 | Mari Boya | Prema Racing | 1m23.063s | +1.641s | 15 |
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
