QUALIFYING: Fornaroli steals pole from Martins with last-gasp lap in Spielberg

Invicta Racing driver Leonardo Fornaroli earned his second Aramco Pole Position Award of the 2025 season, securing top spot in Spielberg on his final lap.

The Italian set a 1:15.229 late on to deny ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins by just 0.014s. Richard Verschoor completed the top three in his MP Motorsport car, the top trio covered by just 0.024s.

PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Minì set the early pace on a 1:15.888 but that was bettered by compatriot Fornaroli shortly afterwards, as he set a 1:15.769.

Martins had gone purple in the middle sector but wound up just 0.001s off the provisional pole time with his first effort of the session.

Fornaroli found another improvement on his second attempt and lowered the time to beat to a 1:15.574. Joshua Duerksen then got to within two-tenths of that to go second for AIX Racing.

After a lull in the pitlane as everyone waited for the ideal conditions in the final stages, drivers returned to the circuit with just over 10 minutes to go.

Minì went to provisional pole on his next lap but was immediately beaten by Verschoor, who set a 1:15.253.

Fornaroli couldn’t find the time to go back to P1 as he went second for Invicta, but Martins then found 0.010s to go to the top of the times.

With enough time for a final attempt, Fornaroli went for another lap and set a 1:15.229 to re-take P1 from Martins by just 0.014s.

Verschoor ran wide on his last effort and couldn’t improve on third, ending up 0.024s down on the pole sitter.

Minì wound up fourth ahead of Amaury Cordeel in fifth for Rodin Motorsport. Roman Stanek followed in sixth ahead of Championship leader Alexander Dunne, who rescued his session in seventh having been 18th going into the final attempts.

Duerksen was eighth ahead of Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí and John Bennett in 10th for Van Amersfoort Racing.

The Formula 2 Sprint Race is set to get underway on Saturday at 14:15 local time, with the British VAR driver set to go from reverse grid pole.