Rodin Motorsport laid down a marker in Formula 2 qualifying at Baku. Martinius Stenshorne and Alex Dunne both secured pole positions for this weekend's double feature races, asserting the British team's dominance on the streets of Baku.
Thursday's qualifying was split into two 15-minute sessions, the first deciding the grid for Friday's sprint and feature race, and the second setting the starting positions for Saturday's final feature race. MP Motorsport's Oliver Goethe initially set the benchmark with a 1m59.374s after a short delay for track repairs.
However, it didn't take long for Stenshorne to take over with a 1m55.821s. His teammate Dunne then went faster still with a 1m55.383s, 0.230s clear of ART Grand Prix's Kush Maini, who split the Rodin pair. On the second runs, Dunne couldn't improve, while Stenshorne closed the gap to just 0.053s.
Behind them, Campos Racing's Noel Leon was consistently third, while championship leader Nikola Tsolov had to settle for ninth, just ahead of his main rival, Rafael Camara (Invicta Racing). Camara then moved up to fifth thanks to a tow from his teammate Joshua Duerksen on the long straight. Camara was 0.238s off the top time.
With five minutes left in the first session, yellow flags were briefly shown after Roman Bilinski, Dunne, and Gabriele Mini all ran wide at Turn 1. The incident prevented improvements for those on track. Dino Beganovic was the only driver to make a significant gain. Despite missing the benefit of a tow at the end of the lap, the DAMS driver moved up to eighth, pushing Tsolov down to tenth. That means Tsolov will start Friday's sprint race from pole.
Dunne completed a Rodin 1-2 in the first session, followed by Stenshorne, Leon, and Maini. Camara completed the top five. The second session began with Camara setting the early pace, the Ferrari junior posting a 1m54.477s, 0.250s faster than Leon. Some teams opted to change tyres, but Prema's Mari Boya stayed out and moved up to second.
Boya looked set to hold that position until the Rodin duo returned to the track in the closing stages. As the chequered flag fell, Dunne set a 1m54.173s to displace Camara, before Stenshorne eclipsed his teammate with a 1m53s lap, 0.445s clear of Camara. Stenshorne thus secured pole for the second feature race, with Dunne second.
Camara and Boya held on to third and fourth, with Maini again in the top five. Tsolov had to accept starting from eighth in the second feature race. With Rodin's dominance, the battle for the Baku weekend intensifies, especially for Tsolov, who must be wary of pressure from Camara in the drivers' standings.
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