F3 Asia: Daruvala and Chovet on pole in Abu Dhabi

The French are in great shape. Already at their advantage last week in Dubai, Pierre-Louis Chovet, who will discover the FIA F3 in 2021 and Isack Hadjar, scheduled for Formula Regional this season, gave the reply to the drivers of F2, during qualifying for the second round of F3 Asia on Thursday.

Certainly in Q1, it was Jehan Daruvala who took pole for race 1, thanks to a time of 1'52''905. But Isack Hadjar will also start on the front row, since he sets the second time at 146 thousandths. Guanyu-Zhou, the pilot of the Renault Sport Academy in F2 completes the leading trio just ahead of the other Frenchman Pierre-Louis Chovet, who will start fourth.

The four men made the gap, since the fifth Dino Beganovic was pushed back to 442 thousandths. Other closely followed drivers, Roy Nissany was only able to achieve the seventh time at 768 thousandths, Ayumu Iwasa the eleventh at one second and Rafael Villagomez the 16th at 1''6.

Q2, which provides the grid for race 3, allowed Pierre-Louis Chovet to claim his second pole of the season, thanks to an exceptional time of 1'52''371. He relegates his closest follower Guanyu Zhou to 212 thousandths. Jehan Daruvala, third at 478 thousandths, will start from the second row alongside Patrik Pasma.

Isack Hadjar had less success but still ranked fifth, 646 thousandths behind the poleman. In any case, he remains well ahead of Ayumu Iwasa, who dominated him in F4 France last season. The Japanese finished 9th in Q3, while Nissany ranked 13th and Villagomez 17th.