Abu Dhabi GP: Iwasa takes pole in final F2 qualifying of 2022
19th November 2022Dams Ayumu Iwasa took the final pole position of the season, in Abu Dhabi, as the Japanese driver pipped his teammate – Roy Nissany – by 0.036 seconds.
In usual fashion, once the pit exit light went green to signal the start, the entire field of Formula 2 drivers peeled out of the pit lane and onto the Yas Marina Circuit.
After the first set of qualifying laps, Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan quickly jumped to the top of the timing sheets after the Australian set a lap time of 1:36.677 – ahead of ART’s Theo Pourchaire and Hitech’s Juri Vips.
However, the red flag was quickly brought out as Marino Sato was found stationary on the exit of turn 13. The Virtuosi driver lost grip in his rear tyres as he mounted the kerb under the hotel and spun out towards the barrier. Fortunately, Sato was able to keep out of the barrier but he couldn’t get his car moving again.
The session soon got back underway fairly quickly.
As per usual, after the first half of the session drew to a close, the drivers started to return to the pit lane for change of tyres and – minimal – set-up changes. With 15 minutes left on the clock, the top two remained unchanged while Prema’s Jehan Daruvala moved up to P3, 0.320 seconds off Doohan’s pace.
When the clock ticked down to its final 10 minutes, the field slowly returned to the United Arab Emirates circuit.
In the first runs, on fresh tyres, the times started to tumble down. Pourchaire topped the session with a great 1:36.372, 0.142 seconds faster than Carlin’s Logan Sargeant – who is looking to move up into F1, into Williams Racing, after this weekend.
However, it was the Dams of Iwasa and Nissany who stole the show. The latter was the first to improve his lap time, and top the leaderboard, but he was quickly demoted down to P2 by his teammate.
Top three:
- Ayumu Iwasa, Dams
- Roy Nissany, Dams
- Theo Pourchaire, ART
That’s it for the article: Abu Dhabi GP: Iwasa takes pole in final F2 qualifying of 2022! Who do you think will lead the sprint race, after the opening corner? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- Dutch GP: Armstrong commands win in inaugural Holland sprint
- Belgium GP: Doohan tyre strategy secures first feature race win
- Belgian GP: Lawson secures F2 win after early move
- F2 Hungarian GP: Pourchaire wins after Armstrong’s pit lane woes
- F2 Hungarian GP: Doohan dominates sprint after early blunder
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
