Alex Lynn secured his first GP2 pole position in the Hungarian heat; Stoffel Vandoorne unable to continue his show of dominance in qualifying. Arthur Pic and Raffaele Marciello both looked to be in with a chance of stealing pole away from the reigning GP3 champion, but Lynn held the edge as he watched on from the pit wall.
The early pace was set by Vandoorne, who set purple times in sectors 1 and 3, and Marciello, who was fastest in sector 2 and just 0.231 seconds behind the McLaren junior. After a quiet first few laps, DAMS went against the flow, using an alternate strategy to the norm and sending their drivers out in the traditional gap between the two stints.
For the most part the attention was on Gasly, with the French driver seeming to be back on his pre-season testing pace which saw him head and shoulders above the rest of the field. And while the Red Bull junior did improve his time to 4th, some errors out of the corners, as well as a foray with all four wheels off the track, cost him his first potential pole. Almost unnoticed Lynn pipped Vandoorne’s time by a mere 0.019 seconds, showing the talent that secured him a Williams test role.
The DAMS boys returned to their pit boxes just as the rest of the field scrabbled for track position to set their final timed laps. All eyes were on Vandoorne, who failed to better Lynn on his first attempt. Jordan King jumped up the order to 7th, ahead of experienced teammate Rossi, only to be pushed down to 8th by Mitch Evans.
With little time remaining and Lynn off track, Vandoorne had to give everything he could in a last effort to top the timesheet. Sector 1, advantage Lynn. Sector 2, advantage Lynn. Rossi improves to 11th, a poor result compared to where he’d like to be. Vandoorne crosses the line. He does not improve. It was a similar story for Raffaele Marciello, showing so much promise in the first half of the session but unable to set the times when it really mattered.
Briefly it looked as though Arthur Pic might claim pole on a track he excels on, setting personal best sectors consistently. Altogether though Pic couldn’t string a lap together that was quick enough to pole, having to settle for heading the second row in P3 ahead of Marciello. Countryman Gasly lines up behind them in P5, and Jordan King out-qualifies his teammate to start P6.
It’s DAMS’ first pole of the season, their form on Pirelli tyres back towards their finest despite being 101 points adrift in the team standings. Race 1 starts at 15:40 local time tomorrow.