F2: Alpine junior Doohan bounces back to claim pole in thrilling Monza qualifying

Jack Doohan turned his earlier frustrations into strong form as the Alpine junior held off several late charges to snatch the third pole position of his rookie season – as eight drivers took turns topping the timing sheets in the highly competitive session.

The Virtuosi Racing driver was left agitated on his first attempt after he was forced to fight Jehan Daruvala for track position, but he managed to turn things around with a final 1m 31.641s to go a tenth clear of second-place Liam Lawson, as Marcus Armstrong rounded out the top three.

Championship leader Felipe Drugovich stepped closer to title glory this weekend, claiming fourth for the Feature Race grid. Meanwhile, his nearest rival Theo Pourchaire could only manage 14th.

Richard Verschoor secured fifth at his Trident team’s home weekend, ahead of Red Bull junior Daruvala.

It was all or nothing for Ayumu Iwasa. Going purple in the first sector on his final attempt, it looked as though the DAMS driver could snatch pole out of Doohan’s hands, but a snap of oversteer sent the Red Bull-liveried car into the barriers at Turn 11 as the clock struck zero.

The Japanese driver will now start seventh ahead of practice pace-setter Juri Vips and Williams Academy junior Logan Sargeant, whilst Frederik Vesti rounded out the top 10.

The Mercedes junior will be in a prime position to return to the podium after a three-round absence, when he lines up on reverse grid pole for the penultimate Sprint Race of the 2022 season, which gets underway at 1800 local time on Saturday.

For more details on Formula 2's qualifying session in Monza, check out the full report on the official F2 website.