Fornaroli taking ‘positive feelings’ into Lusail Qualifying after going fastest in Free Practice

Leonardo Fornaroli was in superb form as Formula 2 returned to action, with the Championship leader topping the timesheets of this afternoon’s Free Practice in Lusail.

The Invicta Racing driver was a constant presence inside the top three of the leaderboard after each of his flying laps, and with his final attempt of the 45-minute session, completed a 1:38.656 to extend his advantage at the top.

PRACTICE: Fornaroli in strong form as he sets the pace in Lusail for Invicta Racing

That time sent him over four-tenths clear of the rest of the field, before Hitech TGR’s Dino Beganovic closed to within 0.102s off the Italian at the chequered flag.

Speaking after the session, Fornaroli was happy with how things went, but was not reading too much into the timings going into Qualifying, with their being plenty of unknowns regarding what other drivers and teams were doing.

“It felt good,” said Fornaroli. “It’s very nice to be back driving, it’s a very nice circuit, a lot of colours around, very high speed corners, very fun to drive. So positive feelings and now we move on to quali.

“It’s only practice though, it doesn’t really mean anything. All the drivers, they have to test their own things, so the important sessions are later in the weekend.

“It’s nice, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

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It was Fornaroli and the rest of the grid’s first time in a Formula 2 car since Baku over two months ago, giving the Championship leader and the field a lot of time to prepare for Qatar.

The 20-year-old says he spent a lot of time driving the Lusail circuit on the simulator, using the one he has setup at home and as well as with the team.

“I did a lot of simulator work” continued Fornaroli. “Both at home and the team I felt it helped a lot, but now we focus on the rest.”

Looking ahead to Qualifying, Fornaroli will be aiming for a third Pole Position of the season – following his P1 performances in Sakhir and Spielberg.

While there is the possibility that the Invicta driver could seal the title this weekend, and taking pole would help him in his bid to do so, he says that will not be on his mind entering the session.

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“No, I will not think about it,” said Fornaroli. “I will approach the next session like it was another weekend, as usual.”

The Championship leader and the 21 other drivers are set to hit the track for Qualifying later today at 19:10 local time.