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Megan White

F2 Imola: Vips romps to pole over Iwasa after stoppage

As the sun set, the Dutch Red Bull junior took his first pole of the season for Hitech Grand Prix with a 1m40.221s.

He took an early lead with a 1m41.599s before a red flag halted running for 10 minutes after Campos Racing's Olli Caldwell went off at Turn 3.

Despite challenges from Jake Hughes (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Campos' Ralph Boschung, who took the lead with just under 10 minutes remaining, Vips managed to improve and ended the session 0.15s ahead.

DAMS' Ayumu Iwasa will line up alongside him for Sunday's race, with Jack Doohan in third for Virtuosi, having shot up from 21st with a brilliant last-minute flying lap.

Boschung was first to set a quick lap after the session was delayed by the late-running Formula 1 qualifying session, with a 1m45.248s.

Though MP Motorsport's Clement Novalak soon demoted him, Boschung reclaimed the top spot until he was surpassed by Vips.

Hughes briefly held the top spot ahead of the red flag, before Vips once again improved on his time.

Frederik Vesti was able to make his first outing onto the track after the stoppage, having suffered an issue hampering his running for much of the session which left him in the pits, and despite making it up to seventh, was forced to settle for 16th at the end of the session.

Carlin's Liam Lawson went third quickest at the halfway point, setting a 1m41.929s, while Felipe Drugovich went fourth.

But the pair failed to keep up with the rest of the pack as the times tumbled and will start in 14th and 12th respectively.

Theo Pourchaire and Marcus Armstrong were also running inside the top 5, but suffered a similar fate and will start seventh and ninth.

Boschung held on to take fourth place, with Prema Racing rookie lining up fifth at the team's home race.

Roy Nissany shot up to third place for DAMS towards the end of the session, but will settle for sixth place having been demoted by Doohan, Boschung and Hauger.

Logan Sargeant will start on pole for Saturday's reverse-grid sprint race, with Armstrong in second and Jehan Daruvala in third.

Sargeant and Hughes will both be investigated after the session for impeding.

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap
1 Estonia Jüri Vips United Kingdom HitechGP 14 1'40.221  
2 Ayumu Iwasa France DAMS 13 1'40.378 0.157
3 Australia Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing 15 1'40.431 0.210
4 Switzerland Ralph Boschung Spain Campos Racing 13 1'40.496 0.275
5 Norway Dennis Hauger Italy Prema Powerteam 13 1'40.572 0.351
6 Israel Roy Nissany France DAMS 14 1'40.621 0.400
7 France Theo Pourchaire France ART Grand Prix 14 1'40.862 0.641
8 India Jehan Daruvala Italy Prema Powerteam 13 1'40.886 0.665
9 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong United Kingdom HitechGP 15 1'41.004 0.783
10 United States Logan Sargeant United Kingdom Carlin 14 1'41.062 0.841
11 Germany David Beckmann Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 13 1'41.129 0.908
12 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Netherlands MP Motorsport 14 1'41.131 0.910
13 Switzerland Clement Novalak Netherlands MP Motorsport 14 1'41.173 0.952
14 New Zealand Liam Lawson United Kingdom Carlin 14 1'41.199 0.978
15 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 13 1'41.235 1.014
16 Denmark Frederik Vesti France ART Grand Prix 11 1'41.434 1.213
17 United Kingdom Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 12 1'41.520 1.299
18 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 14 1'41.592 1.371
19 Netherlands Richard Verschoor Italy Trident 11 1'42.144 1.923
20 Australia Calan Williams Italy Trident 12 1'42.498 2.277
21 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell Spain Campos Racing 4 1'42.954 2.733
22 Japan Marino Sato Virtuosi Racing 15 1'43.311 3.090
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