Van Hoepen nails 1:21.422 on final lap to take Montreal pole

Laurens van Hoepen took his maiden Formula 2 pole in Montreal, putting Trident on top with a decisive final-lap 1:21.422 on the championship’s debut weekend at Circuit Gilles‑Villeneuve. It was Trident’s third pole in modern F2 and its first since Richard Verschoor in Baku 2024.

The session was repeatedly interrupted, producing two red flags after Oliver Goethe and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak hit the Turn 4 wall; Inthraphuvasak exited his car and was reported OK. Rafael Camara suffered suspension damage but his team repaired the car during a 10-minute stoppage. Track evolution after F1 running influenced lap times: Alex Dunne had been fastest in the lone practice session, while early benchmarks from Ritomo Miyata and Joshua Duerksen were lowered as the track improved.

Rafael Camara (Invicta Racing) recovered from mid-session contact to qualify second, 0.267 seconds behind van Hoepen, with Alex Dunne third on 1:21.709. Oliver Stenshorne was fourth on 1:21.744 and championship leader Nikola Tsolov fifth on 1:21.789. Joshua Duerksen, John Bennett, Noel León, Juan Manuel Villagómez and Gabriele Minì completed the top 10.

Gabriele Minì secured reverse‑grid pole for the Sprint; qualifying sets the Feature Race grid, while the Sprint grid is formed by reversing the top qualifying positions. The Montreal Sprint Race was scheduled to start at 14:10 local time on Saturday.