Pourchaire takes stunning Monaco pole as Deledda fails to qualify

Formula 2

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Theo Pourchaire has taken pole position for the Monaco Formula 2 feature race but Alessio Deledda has failed to qualify for this weekend’s event.

ART driver Pourchaire ran in the first of the two groups in qualifying, setting a best time of 1’20.985. No one lapped within four tenths of a second of the 17-year-old in either of the two groups. Robert Shwartzman, pace-setter in the second round of qualifying, will start alongside him.

Despite Pourchaire’s superior pace, all of the drivers in group one lapped well within 107% of his lap time and will therefore be allowed to start.

But in group two Deledda fell short of meeting the 107% target by six tenths of a second. His participation in the rest of the weekend is therefore at the mercy of the stewards.

Drivers may be given dispensation to participate “in exceptional circumstances”, according to Formula 2’s regulations, “which may include setting a suitable lap time in a previous free practice session”> However Deledda’s qualifying time was one-and-a-half seconds faster than his best effort from practice.

Oscar Piastri and Dan Ticktum took the second row of the grid, followed by Juri Vips and Ralph Boschung. Championship leader Guanyu Zhou qualified 10th, and will therefore start race one from pole position.

Pourchaire has pole for the third race of the weekend, while the grid for race two will be based on the finishing positions of race one with the top 10 reversed.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Pourchaire takes stunning Monaco pole as Deledda fails to qualify”

  1. What a stunning lap.

    Early days, but we may yet have a future world champion on our hands. If nothing else, at least a contender for Alfa next year, irrespective of if Kimi wants to continue pursuing his hobby or not.

    1. It was indeed.

    2. His F3 season was stunning and now this. A name to remember!

  2. Is that the same Deledda who’s too slow to race on the streets, who was posting himself speeding on the roads last year?

    1. RandomMallard (@)
      20th May 2021, 14:46

      Yes. He goes quicker (280 km/h) in his road car than he does in a racing car (I think that was a comparison to his F3 car, don’t know about F2)

  3. ”Pourchaire has pole for the third race of the weekend, while the grid for race two will be based on the finishing positions of race one with the top three reversed.”
    – Isn’t it top-ten?

    1. It better not be top 3. That means the person who qualified 10th starts race 1 on pole and could easily just win a processional race and start 3rd in race 2. That would be crimes against racing.

      1. RandomMallard (@)
        20th May 2021, 15:06

        It is top 10. I think it was just a typo @bealzbob

    2. At that point why not just put names in a bowl and start them in the order you pull them out

      1. @eljueta A good idea.

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