Laurens van Hoepen continued his fine start to the 2026 FIA Formula 2 season, earning his maiden pole position in the championship on its first visit to Canada.
The TRIDENT driver arrived in Montreal fresh from his first taste of Formula 1 experience, having driven a Williams in Budapest as part of a private TPC.
It fuelled his F2 Qualifying performance, as he delivered a 1m 21.422s to finish on pole and two-tenths clear of the rest of the field.
Rafael Câmara survived contact with the wall on the exit of Turn 4 earlier in the session to finish second overall, with the Invicta Racing driver one of only a few drivers to deliver an improvement with their final effort. He was able to jump ahead of Alexander Dunne, who completed the top three for Rodin Motorsport.
The session was halted by two separate red flag incidents, the first coming after contact for Oliver Goethe on the exit of Turn 4 that resulted in suspension damage.
The MP Motorsport driver’s incident was then followed up by another Turn 4 error, this time for Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, the ART Grand Prix driver hitting the wall hard following a spin.
With the Thai driver out of his car and with it recovered from the track, there was time for a final set of laps, and van Hoepen was able to deliver when it counted most.
Elsewhere, championship leader Nikola Tsolov found time on his last lap, but could do no better than fourth. Martinius Stenshorne made sure both Rodin Motorsport cars were in the top five in fifth, and he was followed by Joshua Duerksen in P6.
John Bennett, Noel León, Rafael Villagómez and Gabriele Minì completed the top 10. For an in-depth report of the Montreal F2 Qualifying session, visit the official website here.
