Dino Beganovic took the first pole position of the 2026 Formula 2 season, with Martinius Stenshorne completing the front row for the Feature Race.
An eventful practice session saw Gabriele Mini finish the session out front, finding time where the rest of the grid struggled, while Colton Herta spun and found the wall.
However, qualifying is where everything counts, and 22 drivers sat in the pit lane ready to embark on the first qualifying session of the season.
Like in the earlier Formula 3 session, every lap was vital, and the grid wasted no time getting out on track.
Mini was the first driver to head out on a push lap, choosing to slowly build up his pace from sector to sector rather than going flat out on the first run. His time was 1:32.199s.
Beganovic shot to the top of the order, marking the first driver to break into 1:29’s with a 1:29.953s. Behind him, the Invita Racing duo took second and third.
Martinius Stenshorne took provisional pole from Beganovic, but it was short-lived as Tsolov took the top spot with a time of 1:29.381.
As the times began to fall, a Red Flag was brought out, Mari Boya running through the gravel on the exit of Turn 10 and hitting the wall in Turn 12.
Back to green
The session went green again with Trident, MP and VAR the only three teams choosing not to go out straight away. Mini had the engine cover off his Alpine-liveried MP car, which didn’t bode well for the Italian.
Most of the drivers filtering out onto the grid were still on the first set of tyres, but many still dove into the pits to switch out the tyres for a new set after one lap out.
Luckily for Mini, as other drivers filtered into the pits, his engine cover was being put back on with 15 minutes to go in the session.
With 11 minutes left in the session, all remaining 21 drivers made their way out on track. However, a yellow flag was brought out moments later as Mini was pulled over on the side of the road just past the pit exit.
With five minutes left in the session, the time continued to count down, leaving the 20 remaining drivers with just enough time to put together a push lap.
The entire grid filed out of the pit lane and onto the track, with each driver requiring perfection in the closing stages of qualifying.
Tsolov still sat first in the final minutes, but the other 19 drivers were desperate to take the first pole position of the 2026 season.
One lap shoot-out
Alex Dunne was the first driver to embark on a push lap, with Stenshorne and Sebastian Montoya close behind. Dunne shot to the top of the order but immediately lost the position to Stenshorne.
The times were flooding in, with Beganovic taking provisional pole in the final seconds. His time of 1:28.695s was unbeatable, with the Rodin duo having to accept second and third for the Feature Race.
Noel Leon took fourth, finishing the second row, with F3 rivals Nikola Tsolov and Rafael Camara lining up on the third row. Kush Maini and Oliver Goethe took the fourth row, and Joshua Duerksen and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak finished the top ten, with Inthraphuvasak taking the Sprint Race pole with the reverse grid.
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