F2 | Qualifying | Hungarian GP | Staněk claims pole position ahead of Fornaroli

The Hungaroring hosts the final round of the F2 Championship before the summer break. Leonardo Fornaroli and his Invicta Racing team currently lead both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Standings, following a post-race penalty for Alexander Dunne in last weekend’s Feature Race, which would have otherwise put him at the top of the championship. The F2 Hungarian GP Qualifying session will test the driver to push for pole. However, only one pole-sitter this year has gone on to win the Feature Race (Arvid Lindblad in Barcelona), so will the pole position fortune change in Budapest?

In Practice earlier today, Luke Browning led the pack with 1:30.609, with Oliver Goethe one-tenth behind, and Alexander Dunne three-tenths off the pace in P3.

Lights out

Campos Racing were the first to send their cars out, followed by Trident, Van Amersfoort Racing, and Prema. While the rest of the grid filtered onto the circuit, Fornaroli remained stationary in the pit lane.

Lindblad was the first car to set his first flying lap, coming across the line with a time of 1:30.319.

Goethe responded by going quickest with a 1:29.308, but it was short-lived, with last weekend’s Feature Race winner, Roman Staněk, immediately going faster with a 1:29.167, edging out Goethe by a tenth.

Dunne had a lock up on his first flying lap, only crossing the line in P6, six-tenths off Staněk.

Fornaroli exits the pits

With 20 minutes on the clock, Championship Leader Fornaroli finally exited the pits and headed out on his first flying lap.

Staněk shaved more time off his lap, improving to a 1:29.107. Both Goethe and Verschoor also found more pace, but it wasn’t enough to claim P1, as they held position in P2 and P3 respectively.

While the rest of the grid rolled into the pit lane, Fornaroli set out on his first flying lap with the track to himself and no traffic. He set purple in sector 3, and moved to P1, however this was short lived for exceeding track limited in Turn 1 with his lap time deleted.

He set off on another push lap on the same tyres, just before the rest of the grid rolled back onto the track. His first sector was yellow, and appeared to not have the same grip he had on the first lap. He didn’t cross the line in P1, but he moved from P22 to P4.

Second set of push laps from the drivers

As the driver’s began their tyre preparation laps, Staněk attempted to be at the front of the queue for clear air in the F2 Hungarian GP Qualifying session. He had a yellow sector 1, purple sector two and green sector three, who improved on his time and set a 1:28.779.

Browning moved to P2, two-tenths behind Staněk, but this was short lived with Crawford moving to P2, only one-tenth behind P1.

With 5 minutes left of Qualifying, Fornaroli finally joined the rest of the grid on track, leaving only enough time for one push lap at the end of the session.

Montoya rose to P4 for Prema Racing, but lost his lap and fell to P18. Montoya and Maini were noted for an impeding incident at turn 3.

Fornaroli set off on his final attempt with 47 seconds left of Qualifying. He only crossed the line in P2, leaving his teammate Staněk claiming his first pole position. Crawford rounded out the top 3.

Provisional placements in the F2 Hungarian GP Qualifying session

1. R. Staněk (1:28.779)
2. L. Fornaroli
3. J. Crawford
4. L. Browning
5. J. Dürksen
6. O. Goethe
7. V. Martins
8. A. Lindblad
9. A. Dunne
10. J. Martí
11. R. Verschoor
12. G. Minì
13. A. Cordeel
14. D. Beganovic
15. J. Bennett
16. R. Villagómez
17. R. Miyata
18. S. Montoya
19. S. Meguetounif
20. K. Maini
21. M. Esterson
22. C. Shields