Bennett: 'Strong points finishes' the target in Spa after best-ever F2 Qualifying

It was a great Friday result for John Bennett and TRIDENT as the British driver earned his best-ever Qualifying result in the Championship with P5.

His 1:56.759 puts him in a great position in both the Sprint and Feature Races this weekend around Spa-Francorchamps.

Speaking in the paddock after the session, Bennett said he was very happy to achieve the result on a tricky day for everyone.

"It was a really tricky session. No one quite knew what the weather was going to do. We went into the session watching wet onboards and came out of it almost doing F2 lap record pace around Spa.

"It was really, really fun. The car felt really good. There was so much grip on track, and P5 in the end is my best quali result so far. I think we just keep going in a really good direction. The last few weekends we've just been getting stronger and stronger. It also feels really nice to bounce back after a trickier quali at Silverstone."

He added that the demands of the Spa circuit made things even more difficult as the drivers ventured out to begin the session.

"It is tricky. There's not much margin for error around Spa and heading up Eau Rouge, you don't quite know if it's going to be damp or dry, if you can use kerbs or not. With F2 quali, you don't really get much time to work it out.

"You just have one or two push-ups max. So you really just have to send it and see if it sticks."

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It was another result in a very strong patch of form Bennett has been in the midst of. He points to the P7 finish in the Barcelona Feature Race, that then led to his maiden F2 victory the following weekend in the Spielberg Sprint.

Now, a strong performance in Qualifying has given him and the team confidence that their hard work behind the scenes is putting them on the right path ahead of the summer break, and now it's about making the most of their opportunity.

"The past few weekends I feel like we've been in a really good place. Starting with that Feature Race in Barcelona, and then we got the win in Austria. Silverstone felt super strong, we just couldn't quite hook it up for quali.

"But then, this weekend I think we felt super strong. I was P2 for the first half of FP, and then in quali we're right up there. So for sure, it's a good step forward.

"We've shown in the races, we can race well. Now we've shown that I can qualify up the sharp end. Then it's just about keeping this momentum going."

Looking ahead to Saturday's Sprint Race, Bennett says the target is to maximise what he can and finish inside the top eight for more points.

"Strong points will be the target. It's nice that I can say I've ticked off my race win in Formula 2. Obviously, you want to get more, but for me I think we should be a lot higher up in the Championship.

"Now it's really just about maximising what we can. The team deserves two good results. So, we're just trying to maximise the points we can from this weekend and take it from there."