A standout performance from Theo Pourchaire saw the Frenchman dominate qualifying to take pole for Sunday’s F2 Championship race.

Pourchaire recorded a time 0.7s faster than ART team-mate Victor Martins to secure pole position for the F2 Feature encounter.

Meanwhile, Jack Doohan will start a lowly 17th, unable to make his final flying lap count in the closing seconds of the session.

It was a difficult session for the Australian’s Virtuosi Racing squad with team-mate Amaury Cordeel only two places ahead.

Doohan heads into this year’s F2 campaign among the favourites for the title, an objective that has been set for him by paymasters Alpine.

Pourchaire is also among the expected title contenders, while Martins is a rookie in the competition and, like Doohan, part of the Alpine Academy.

Richard Verschoor claimed third and will be joined on the second row by Red Bull junior Dennis Hauger.

Mercedes junior Frederik Vesti was fifth-fastest but picked up a three grid place penalty for impeding Arthurt Leclerc.

That would have translated to sixth for the Spring race, which now becomes ninth.

Qualifying determined the grid for both races, setting the complete starting order for Sunday’s Feature.

The line-up for Saturday’s Sprint race sees the top 10 inverted, leaving Ralph Boschung on pole position ahead of Roman Stanek.

That encounter is slated to begin at 19:15 local time (03:15 AEDT) while the fastest qualifying time sees Pourchaire take the lead of the drivers’ championship courtesy of the two bonus points for the accomplishment.

Points run from first to 10th in the Sprint race, with a further bonus point for the driver who records the fastest lap – provided they finish in the points-paying places.

Results: Formula 2 Qualifying, Bahrain