Jak Crawford left it until the very last lap to snatch pole position for the Formula 2 Feature Race at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, setting a blistering 1:43.579s lap to edge out Victor Martins by just 0.022s in a disrupted and dramatic session.
Martins, who topped Free Practice for ART Grand Prix, looked on course to finally convert his pace into a maiden 2025 pole after narrowly missing out in the opening rounds.
The Frenchman struck early with 1:44.559s before the session erupted into a flurry of changes.
Arvid Lindblad briefly hit the top with 1:44.250s, only to be deposed by Gabriele Minì, then Luke Browning, and then Leonardo Fornaroli — as the circuit rubbered in and lap times began to tumble.
But just as the field prepared for a final charge, disaster struck.
John Bennett lost the rear of his car at Turn 17 and hit the outside wall, bringing out the red flags with just over 10 minutes left.
The Rodin Motorsport driver emerged unhurt, but the incident reset the field and left just five minutes to settle the order.
When the track went green again, the pressure hit boiling point. Several drivers failed to improve.
Fornaroli briefly returned to provisional pole with a late push, but it was Martins who looked to have sealed it with 1:43.601s on the board.
Enter Crawford.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver hooked up a near-perfect final flyer to steal pole by a sliver — just 22 thousandths of a second.
It was a cold-blooded lap under pressure that denied Martins yet again, leaving the ART driver second for the third time in as many rounds.
Fornaroli ended up third, followed by Browning and Lindblad in fourth and fifth.
Bahrain Feature Race winner Alex Dunne took sixth ahead of Pepe Marti, Mini and Richard Verschoor.
Roman Staněk claimed 10th, which hands him reverse grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
The session once again highlighted just how fiercely competitive the 2025 field is — with less than half a second covering the top ten and a pole lap that came down to the very last second.
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