Roman Stanek secured his maiden Formula 2 pole position at the Hungaroring, delivering a commanding performance in a fiercely contested qualifying session.
The Invicta Racing driver narrowly edged out his rivals to claim pole for Sunday’s Feature Race, continuing his strong form in the junior category.
He will be joined on the front row by his team-mate and championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli, setting up a dominant 1-2 for Invicta Racing.
Jak Crawford secured third for DAMS Lucas Oil, positioning himself well to fight for crucial points in the title race.
Luke Browning was fastest in the earlier Free Practice session for Hitech, setting a lap time of 1:30.609s to clear the rest of the field at the top. Completing the top three were Oliver Goethe and Alexander Dunne.
As Round 10 of the 2025 F2 season approaches, Fornaroli heads a fiercely contested championship battle among several talented and determined young drivers.
Several drivers were handed warnings for impeding during practice heading into qualifying.
Stanek sets early pace in qualifying at Hungaroring
Arvid Lindblad got off to a strong start in qualifying, briefly topping the timesheets before slipping down as others improved.
Spa Feature Race winner Stanek maintained his momentum by claiming provisional pole early for Invicta with a 1:29.167s.
Goethe carried his practice form into qualifying, jumping up to second place, just 0.141s behind the Czech driver and narrowly ahead of his MP Motorsport team-mate Richard Verschoor in third.
Victor Martins and Browning completed the top five in the early part of the session, while Dunne sat seventh and Crawford struggled further back in 15th.
Meanwhile, Fornaroli hadn’t set a lap time during the opening minutes of the qualifying session, remaining in the pits.
On his first flying lap, he posted the fastest time, but it was deleted for exceeding track limits, dropping him back to last place with half of the session already gone.
Undeterred, the Italian cooled his tyres and went again, clocking a strong lap to jump up to fourth.
After a brief pause and change of tyres, the field returned to the track for the final 10 minutes of the session.
Stanek improved on his benchmark time, setting a 1:28.779s to strengthen his grip on provisional pole.
Goethe initially slotted into second before being displaced by Browning, with Joshua Durksen climbing to third for AIX Racing.
From 19th place, Crawford delivered a standout lap to leap up to second, just 0.173s off Stanek – a crucial effort in the context of his title fight.
Fornaroli completes Invicta front-row lockout with late effort
In the final minutes, Sebastian Montoya briefly surged into fourth but saw his lap time deleted for track limits.
Campos’ Pepe Martí climbed to ninth, while team-mate Lindblad slotted into seventh, with Martins ahead in sixth.
Dunne was unable to improve on his final run, staying eighth, while Verschoor held onto 10th — until the final twist.
With the rest of the top 10 already back in the pits, Fornaroli launched a final push, chasing pole in the dying seconds.
While he couldn’t dethrone his Invicta team-mate, the Italian delivered when it mattered, securing a front-row start just 0.146s behind Stanek.
His late flyer knocked Verschoor out of the top 10 — a damaging blow to the Dutchman’s hopes this weekend.
At the front, Stanek celebrated his first-ever pole in F2, securing a dominant front-row lockout for Invicta Racing.
Crawford completed the top three, with Browning set to join him on the second row on Sunday.
Durksen secured fifth place, ahead of Goethe, Martins, Lindblad, and Dunne, while Marti rounded out the top 10 — earning reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
READ MORE – Roman Stanek inherits F2 Spa Feature Race win after Alex Dunne penalised and Arvid Lindblad disqualified
6mk9h6