17
Photo: Red Bull
Oliver Goethe claimed his maiden Formula 2 pole under the floodlights at Losail, pipping points leader Leonardo Fornaroli.
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins was first to the top in the 30-minute qualifying session, then Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad and Nikola Tsolov laid down a far quicker pace.
The first true flying lap came six minutes in from Martins, who posted a 1m38.518s.
Prema’s Sebastian Montoya beat that by 0.518 seconds, with team-mate Gabriele Mini and Goethe then occupying second place as Martins was shuffled down to fifth.
The first sub-1m38s lap was set by Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek, then he was bettered by team-mate Fornaroli and DAMS’ Jak Crawford. The former posted a 1m37.850s, putting him on top by 0.113s, with Montoya and Goethe completing the top five and Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne setting a 1m38.114s to go sixth fastest.
At this point Trident’s debutant James Wharton finally headed out, but he returned to the pits as the only driver not to complete a lap.
Martins reclaimed top spot shortly before qualifying’s 10-minute mark, setting a 1m37.512s to lead Mini by 0.227s. When MP’s drivers crossed the line they moved ahead, a 1m37.370s earning Goethe first place by 0.129s over Richard Verschoor.
Stanek then lowered the pace further to 1m37.189s, with Crawford trailing by 0.141s. Fornaroli was rapid in sector one, which set up the first sub-1m37s lap.
The DAMS drivers ended their first runs after that, with many following, while Martins and Goethe stayed out. Martins improved to 1m37.428s in fifth, and Goethe got within 0.075s of the provisional pole time by setting a 1m37.071s.
With eight minutes to go the second runs were underway for most, and Wharton was finally on track ready to lap at pace.
The first personal bests on the fresher tyres came from Hitech GP’s drivers, with Dino Beganovic lowering the pace to 1m36.826s. His team-mate Luke Browning was briefly fourgh before Crawford took the position, then Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett surprised by setting a 1m37.034s that put him third.
Fornaroli went fastest again with five minutes to go, posting a 1m36.307s that put him 0.214s clear of Stanek and 0.223s ahead of Goethe. Martins and Dunne improved in fifth and sixth, with Crawford demoted to 10th behind Mini and Montoya.
That later became 12th as AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen and then Verschoor broke the 1m37s barrier, the pair slotting into sixth and fourth respectively.
There were big changes to the order with 90s to go too, as VAR’s Rafael Villagomez briefly jumped up to fifth, then Tsolov. Montoya set a 1m36.741s to rise to fourth, before the pole contenders crossed the line. A 1m36.115s from Goethe put him on top by 0.04s over Fornaroli, with Stanek 0.23s off pole in third.
Martins managed to beat Stanek, by 0.06s, and Dunne went fifth fastest in the final minute.
Crawford and Browning ended up qualifying 15th and 18th, but had reason to hope after title rival Fornaroli broke down on his cooldown lap. Verschoor, the other title contender, ended qualifying in 10th so will benefit from the sprint race’s reversed grid.
Qualifying results
Pos
Driver
Team
Time
Gap
Laps
1
Oliver Goethe
MP Motorsport
1m36.115s
14
2
Leonardo Fornaroli
Invicta Racing
1m36.155s
+0.040s
14
3
Victor Martins
ART Grand Prix
1m36.285s
+0.170s
14
4
Roman Stanek
Invicta Racing
1m36.345s
+0.230s
14
5
Alex Dunne
Rodin Motorsport
1m36.442s
+0.327s
13
6
Sebastian Montoya
Prema
1m36.741s
+0.626s
13
7
Nikola Tsolov
Campos Racing
1m36.764s
+0.649s
14
8
Rafael Villagomez
Van Amersfoort Racing
1m36.766s
+0.651s
13
9
Joshua Duerksen
AIX Racing
1m36.773s
+0.658s
14
10
Richard Verschoor
MP Motorsport
1m36.793s
+0.678s
14
11
Dino Beganovic
Hitech GP
1m36.826s
+0.711s
14
12
Martinius Stenshorne
Rodin Motorsport
1m36.887s
+0.772s
13
13
John Bennett
Van Amersfoort Racing
1m37.034s
+0.919s
13
14
Gabriele Mini
Prema
1m37.039s
+0.924s
13
15
Jak Crawford
DAMS
1m37.172s
+1.057s
13
16
Ritomo Miyata
ART Grand Prix
1m37.194s
+1.079s
14
17
Arvid Lindblad
Campos Racing
1m37.317s
+1.202s
14
18
Luke Browning
Hitech GP
1m37.334s
+1.219s
14
19
Cian Shields
AIX Racing
1m38.098s
+1.983s
14
20
Kush Maini
DAMS
1m38.203s
+2.088s
13
21
James Wharton
Trident
1m38.897s
+2.782s
7
22
Laurens van Hoepen
Trident
1m39.033s
+2.918s
14
