Armstrong to start seventh after stop-start wet qualifying

Marcus Armstrong will start tomorrow’s FIA Formula 2 Feature Race at the Hungaroring from seventh as fellow Ferrari junior Callum Ilott claimed pole-position in a wet qualifying session punctuated by two red flags.

Ilott set a 1.50.767 late in the session to head the timesheets before Jehan Daruvala skated off the road at Turn 8 to bring out the second stoppage with four minutes in hand. The session was not restarted and Ilott snared pole-position by a thumping 0.308s over the Hitech GP car of Luca Ghiotto.

Ilott’s Virtuosi teammate Guanyu Zhou hoisted himself to third as the pairing were able to extend the life of the Pirelli extreme-wet tyres further than anyone else.

Just as the two then limped themselves back to pitlane, the red flag came out securing the team’s best qualifying performance of the year.

Zhou will share the second row with DAMS pilot Dan Ticktum who was running second for most of the session before the Virtuosi pair leapfrogged to the top of the leader board.

Ticktum will start ahead of Schumacher and the first of the ART’s in Christian Lundgaard, fresh of his win in the final sprint race in Austria.

Armstrong will start the race from as twice the red flags hindered his chances to improve on his best lap time, the first of which being due to Guilherme Samaia spinning off the circuit at Turn 4 five minutes into the session.

Jack Aitken was a distant six-tenths behind the Kiwi but will grid up alongside him on the fourth row.

Dry conditions are forecasted for the rest of the weekend which kicks off with the Feature Race from 2.45 am NZT.