Ilott secures third F2 pole of 2020 in Spain to extend points lead

Formula 2 championship leader Callum Ilott will start Saturday’s feature race from pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Ferrari junior has been imperious in qualifying in 2020 having qualified in the top three at each race this season. 

Pole position in F2 means an additional four points to Illott’s championship tally meaning his lead over Prema’s Robert Shwartzman is now up to 23 points.

Illott’s 1m28.381s remained untouched with fellow Ferrari junior Shwartzman being the only man to get within two-tenths.

It was a relief for Shwartzman as he starts from the front row for the first time in F2 having failed to qualify inside the top five in any of the previous qualifying sessions in 2020.

Guanyu Zhou opted to complete his qualifying laps when the track was at its quietest and it proved crucial for the Chinese driver, putting his UNI-Virtuosi Racing car third on the grid.

Felipe Drugovich was 0.386s off the pace in fourth, beating the second Prema of Mick Schumacher who could only manage fifth.

Yuki Tsunoda lines up sixth in the lead Carlin, having spent the early stages of qualifying inside the top four.

Jack Aitken could only manage seventh after back-to-back podiums last time out at Silverstone with Dan Ticktum, Nikita Mazepin and Louis Delétraz completing the top ten positions.

Artem Markelov was an encouraging 11th, just ahead of Jehan Daruvala in the second Carlin.

Sean Gelael and Christian Lundgaard were the final two drivers to be within 1s of the pole time, as they completed the top 14.

Roy Nissany could only manage 15th in the Trident following his outing for the Williams F1 team in FP1 this morning.

Saturday’s feature race is scheduled to take place after Formula 1 qualifying at 1640 local time.