Zhou seals F2 pole, Schumacher fifth

Renault-backed UNI-Virtuosi driver Guanyu Zhou has started his title challenge in perfect way, sealing his second pole position in the FIA Formula 2 with a stunning lap in the qualifying session for the first feature race of the season.

Clocking in a lap time of 1m14.416, Guanyu Zhou secured the pole position for the first race of the 2020 FIA Formula 2 season. The UNI-Virtuosi driver enjoyed an advantage of over four tenths of a second over second-placed Felipe Drugovich who only beat Zhou’s team-mate, Callum Ilott by four thousands of a second.

Christian Lungaard completed the second row on the grid followed by seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher’s son, Mick. Following a misfortunate practice session, the 21-year-old German was down the order in the majority of the qualifying session before making a huge jump towards the sharp end of the field in the dying minutes.

Starting his first full season in the FIA F2 Championship, Dan Ticktum finished in 9th position, beating his team-mate Sean Geleal who secured the 17th starting place for the feature race.

The end of the qualifying session concluded in somewhat unfortunate conditions as Nikita Mazepin spun out in the dying seconds, bringing out a yellow flag which deprived Louis Deletraz, Jack Aitken and Yuki Tsunoda of improving their times.

Zhou will be looking for his maiden victory in F2 when the lights go out in the Feature Race tomorrow, at 4.45pm (local time).