Yuki Tsunoda claims F2 pole in tightly-contested qualifying at Sochi

Yuki Tsunoda stormed to his third Formula 2 pole position of the season as he saw off Carlin teammate Jehan Daruvala in a tightly-contested qualifying session at the Sochi Autodrom.

Both Carlin drivers appeared to be hooked up with the Sochi circuit as Daruvala set an impressive early pace with a 1m49.048s, 0.4s clear of his nearest challenger.

Daruvala may have led after the first runs but a last gasp effort from Tsunoda put him on top with a 1m48.688s, with his teammate managing to get within just 0.006s for top spot.

Impressively, it’s the first time Daruvala has qualified inside the top five all season as he looks to score his first podium of the campaign.

Points leader Mick Schumacher is set to start third, the only non-Carlin driver to get within two-tenths of pole.

The German sits eight points clear of Callum Ilott in the drivers’ championship, with Ilott set to start the race in fourth.

Luca Ghiotto completed the top five, however, he is under investigation for blocking one of Ilott’s qualifying efforts early on in the session and thus may be subject to a grid penalty.

Mugello pole-sitter Christian Lundgaard will start sixth ahead of the second Prema of Robert Shwartzman.

Jack Aitken was 0.618s off the pace in eighth, narrowly beating teammate Guanyu Zhou.

Nikita Mazepin - who is one of three Russian drivers alongside Shwartzman and Artem Markelov - completed the top ten positions.

With no Formula 3 action this weekend, the F2 feature race is set to take place on Saturday morning before F1 final practice.

The full results for F2 qualifying from Sochi can be found here: