Matsushita beats de Vries to Baku F2 pole

Nobuharu Matsushita stormed to pole position for the Formula 2 feature race in Baku. 

The returning F2 driver scored his first pole since the 2017 Monza round for Carlin, having beaten ART Grand Prix's Nyck de Vries by four-tenths of a second on his final flying effort right at the end of the session, which had been delayed due to the drain-related incident which saw Formula 1 opening practuce cancelled earlier in the day.

Early championship leader Luca Ghiotto led the way for much of the session but ultimatelty ended up third  quickest for the UNI-Virtuosi squad, less than a tenth behind de Vries. 

McLaren junior Sergio Sette Camara was over a second off the pace of Matsushita in fourth for DAMS, ahead of MP Motorsport's Jordan King and Ferrari Academy driver Mick Schumacher, who took his best F2 qualifying result of the year so far with sixth for Prema. 

Qualifying had been red-flagged just five minutes into the session when Sean Gelael's Prema ground to a halt. He managed to get going again, only to accidently knock over marshals pushing his car away from the scene. Both marshals escaped unharmed from the incident on what has proved to be a dramatic day in Baku.