F2: Leon’s inspired strategy call earns him maiden pole position in Spielberg

Noel Leon took his maiden Formula 2 pole position in Spielberg, beating Alexander Dunne and his Campos Racing team mate Nikola Tsolov to top spot on Friday.

After the first set of laps, the Mexican left the pits on his own during the middle of the session while the rest of his rivals waited in the pit lane before conducting their final runs.

Leon’s 1m 15.544s thus became the time to beat for the remaining 21 drivers, with Dunne the closest for Rodin, 0.129s slower while Tsolov finished in P3.

Championship leader Gabriele Minì ended up fourth for MP Motorsport, while Rafael Camara, having been fastest after the first set of laps, finished in P5.

Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak led the charge for ART Grand Prix in sixth place, with Oliver Goethe in seventh. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez ended up in P8, ahead of TRIDENT’s John Bennett, with PREMA Racing’s Sebastian Montoya in P10.

Montoya is now set to start from reverse grid pole in Saturday’s Sprint Race, where lights out is scheduled for 1415 local time.

You can read a full report from today’s FIA Formula 2 Qualifying session on the official website here.