QUALIFYING: Stanek leads Invicta Racing 1-2 as he outduels Fornaroli to take pole in Budapest

Roman Stanek took his maiden Aramco Pole Position Award with a superb performance in Budapest, beating his Invicta Racing teammate Leonardo Fornaroli to the top spot.

The Czech driver completed a 1:28.779 to go to P1 but had to watch on from the pit lane as Fornaroli finished his final attempt. However, the Italian missed out on pole by 0.146s, as DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford sealed P3.

Arvid Lindblad was the first driver to set a lap and completed a 1:30.319 to set the early benchmark. But there were several improvements behind him, as Oliver Goethe continued his form from Free Practice to go top on a 1:29.308.

Then, Stanek eclipsed the MP Motorsport driver’s time by 0.141s to take P1 after the first lap.

The drivers were able to push on for a second lap on their Soft tyres, and Stanek extended his advantage out in front with a 1:29.107, putting 0.181s between he and Goethe.

Stanek’s teammate Fornaroli had made the decision to come out of the pitlane later the rest of his rivals, giving him the chance to do his first push laps on an empty track.

The Championship leader briefly went to P1, but his time was deleted for exceeding track limits. He did continue for another attempt, ending up in P4 just as the field returned for their final laps.

With a new set of Soft tyres, Stanek lowered the benchmark time to a 1:28.779, with Crawford going up to second, 0.173s off the pace, as Luke Browning went to P3.

Fornaroli then returned to the track with just over four minutes left in the session, having fallen outside the top 10, as his rivals finished came back into the pit lane.

With the chequered flag waving the Invicta driver went to P2, 0.146s off Stanek, who took his maiden Formula 2 Pole Position.

Crawford wound up third, ahead of Browning, with Joshua Duerksen in fifth for AIX Racing. Oliver Goethe was sixth, in front of Victor Martins and Arvid Lindblad, with Alexander Dunne in P9 and Josep María Martí in P10.

That means Martí is set to start on reverse grid pole in Saturday’s Sprint Race, with lights out in Budapest set for 15:55 local time.