Roman Stanek takes his first Formula 2 pole position with an excellent session in qualifying at the Hungarian GP.
Stanek showed strong pace in Free Practice, and backed it up to claim his first P1 start in F2. While Stanek inherited a win from Lindblad’s disqualification at Spa last weekend, he’ll hope to back his qualifying performance up with victory at the Hungarian GP. Stanek was in control throughout the session in Hungary, and grabbed a deserved pole.
Drivers’ Championship leader and Invicta teammate Leonardo Fornaroli made it a 1-2 for the team.
Green light
The green flag shone for qualifying at the Hungarian GP and Arvin Lindblad led the drivers out for their first runs. Championship-leader Fornaroli held back, being the only driver to not immediately head out of the pits.
Lindblad led the fast laps across the line with a 1:30.31, but was quickly usurped by a host of drivers entering the 1:29 mark. After the first runs, Stanek was the fastest man of all with a 1:29.16, while Oliver Goethe followed him into P2 with a 1:29.30. Goethe immediately improved his time, posting a 1:29.29, before Stanek retaliated with a 1:29.107.
Championship-battler Richard Verschoor managed P3 with a 1:29.41, while Alex Dunne put himself P6 with a 1:29.76. Jak Crawford could only manage a 1:30.05 for P13. Verschoor found improvement immediately, staying in P3 with a 1.29:38. Dunne also found improvement, with a 1:29.59 leaving him P7 as all drivers completed their first runs.
Fornaroli made his way out onto a clean track following the completion of the field’s fast laps, but did have to be mindful of in-laps as he warmed his car up. The Italian briefly went fastest, but had his time of 1:28.93 deleted for track limits at T1.
The second half of the session
As the session clock ticked past the 15-minute mark, the rest of the field returned to the track on fresh tyres. Still out there, Fornaroli managed a 1:29.41 on his used tyres to get up to P4. Dunne was noted for an unsafe release, and stewards announced it would be investigated after the session.
While the field spent time warming up their tyres, Stanek was in no mood to hang around. The Invicta driver spent his time overtaking cars where possible, aiming for a clean lap. The Czech driver improved strongly, posting a 1:28.77 on his flying lap.
Luke Browning, fastest in Practice, made his way into P2 with a 1:29.02. However, his lap was bettered by Crawford with a 1:28.95 giving him P2. Joshua Duerksen put his AIX in P4 with a 1:29.09, while just over four tenths separated him from Dino Beganovic in P12.
The quick laps from Fornaroli’s rivals caused him visible frustration, sitting in his car in the pits. With only five minutes of the session left, it will be tight for the Italian to muster a lap to take him into the top 10 as he makes his way onto the circuit.
Sebastian Montoya made his way into P4 with a 1:29.06, but had his lap time deleted and returned to P18. Fortunately for Fornaroli, other drivers were not improving on their final laps and most returned to the pits.
With 47 seconds of the session to go, Fornaroli started his final lap. Sitting in P12, the Italian faced a pressure situation at the last. He improved on Stanek’s time in Sector 1, one hundredth off in Sector 2, and lost another tenth in Sector 3. Fornaroli saved his session, but it was only P2 for the Italian with a 1:28.92.
F2 Hungarian GP Qualifying Results
- Stanek
- Fornaroli
- Crawford
- Browning
- Dürksen
- Goethe
- Martins
- Lindblad
- Dunne
- Martí
- Verschoor
- Mini
- Cordeel
- Beganovic
- Bennett
- Villagomez
- Miyata
- Montoya
- Meguetounif
- Maini
- Esterson
- Shields
