QUALIFYING: Lindblad in blazing form as he takes maiden F2 pole in Barcelona

Arvid Lindblad was at his brilliant best in Barcelona as the Campos Racing driver took the Aramco Pole Position Award in Friday’s dramatic Qualifying session.

The Red Bull Junior’s final lap of 1:25.180 to beat Sebastián Montoya by 0.245s to take the top spot, with DAMS Lucas Oil driver Kush Maini rounding out the top three.

There was a split strategy to start the session, with half the grid choosing to stay in the pit lane, while the other 11 cars went out on track.

Leonardo Fornaroli set the early benchmark of a 1:25.755, putting him 0.150s clear of Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne after their first set of laps.

With 10 minutes gone, the other half of the grid left the pit lane to get their opening times on the board.

Lindblad then picked up from where he left off in Free Practice – where he set the fastest time – to go quickest with a 1:25.493, over two and a half tenths quicker than Fornaroli.

Ritomo Miyata was third for ART Grand Prix ahead of DAMS’ Jak Crawford, with Dunne rounding out the top five.

All 22 drivers then returned to the track for the final runs, and there were several improvements across the leaderboard.

Montoya then rocketed to the top of the timesheets with a 1:25.425, but Lindblad restored his advantage with a 1:25.180 to give Campos their first pole in Barcelona.

The PREMA driver ended up second ahead of Maini, with Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek’s late improvement enough to put him up to fourth.

Dunne wound up fifth for Rodin, ahead of MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor in sixth and Crawford in seventh. Luke Browning ended up eighth for Hitech TGR, with AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen in ninth, leaving Fornaroli to round out the top 10.

That means Fornaroli is set to line up on reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Barcelona Sprint Race, which is set to get underway at 14:15 local time.