Mihai Marinescu storms to Nurburgring Formula 2 pole

The Romanian was extremely fast in the half-hour session, storming to the top of the times with just minutes remaining thanks to a 1m46.449s. His lap was more than a second faster than the best time set during the free practice sessions, and a full three tenths clear of the rest of the grid.

Runaway points leader Luciano Bacheta finished second fastest with a 1m46.779s, having spent the majority of the session sitting on top of the times. It was not until Marinescu's late lap that he was dropped to second, just ahead of fellow Briton Daniel McKenzie. Unlike Marinescu, McKenzie set his fastest lap early, becoming the first man in the 1m46s bracket at just the 10 minute mark.

Practice pacesetter Kevin Mirocha wound up fourth fastest, with Swiss drivers Matheo Tuscher, Alex Fontana and Christopher Zanella finishing fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.

German Markus Pommer was eighth, having waited until the dying minutes of the session to take on a set of new tyres and post a proper time. China's David Zhu and Britain's Dino Zamparelli rounded out the top 10.

Pos  Driver                Time       Gap
 1.  Mihai Marinescu       1m46.449s
 2.  Luciano Bacheta       1m46.779s  + 0.330s
 3.  Daniel McKenzie       1m46.831s  + 0.382s
 4.  Kevin Mirocha         1m47.041s  + 0.592s
 5.  Matheo Tuscher        1m47.097s  + 0.648s
 6.  Alex Fontana          1m47.152s  + 0.703s
 7.  Christopher Zanella   1m47.217s  + 0.768s
 8.  Markus Pommer         1m47.242s  + 0.793s
 9.  David Zhu             1m47.462s  + 1.013s
10.  Dino Zamparelli       1m47.610s  + 1.161s
11.  Hector Hurst          1m47.985s  + 1.536s
12.  Parthiva Sureshwaren  1m48.082s  + 1.633s
13.  Plamen Kralev         1m48.302s  + 1.853s
14.  Mauro Calamia         1m48.423s  + 1.974s
15.  Maxim Snegirev        1m48.681s  + 2.232s
16.  Axcil Jefferies       1m48.771s  + 2.322s