Leonardo Fornaroli secured his second Feature Race pole of the 2025 season in Austria, reinforcing his position as a top contender in the championship battle.
The reigning Formula 3 World Champion clinched last season’s title despite not winning a single race.
But he moves one step closer to his first win of the season and in the junior series after setting the fastest lap time in qualifying.
He narrowly beat Victor Martins by a slim margin to claim pole, with title contender Richard Verschoor rounding out a tightly contested top three.
Alex Dunne went quickest for Rodin Motorsport in Free Practice and the McLaren development driver returned to the track for Formula 1’s FP1 session, where he impressed with a fourth-place finish for the papaya squad.
He currently leads the F2 championship by just three points over Verschoor, with British Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad a further five points behind.
Hitech’s Luke Browning was disqualified from the earlier practice session after he was referred to the Stewards for failing to ensure that the minimum fuel sample of 0.8kg could be taken post-session.
There were no changes to the entry list ahead of the seventh round of the 2025 season in Austria.
Qualifying at the Red Bull Ring is always fiercely competitive, with the shortest lap times of the year making the margins incredibly tight.
Fornaroli quick off the mark in Austria F2 qualifying
Equipped with fresh sets of Super-Soft tyres, the grid headed out onto the circuit for the 30-minute qualifying session.
Browning set the first benchmark of the qualifying session with a 1:16.111s, but Sebastian Montoya and Gabriele Mini quickly bettered his time, with Mini going fastest and Verschoor slotting between the two Prema drivers in second.
Fornaroli then surged to the top with a 1:15.769s, narrowly holding off Martins, who missed out on beating the Invicta Racing driver by just 0.001s.
Lindblad slotted into fifth after his first flying lap, while Dunne had yet to post a competitive time after the opening 10 minutes of qualifying.
Fornaroli was one of the few drivers to find further improvement on his second run, lowering the benchmark to a 1:15.574s — nearly two tenths clear of Martins.
AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen then jumped up to second, with Pepe Marti moving into fifth for Campos Racing as the order changed once again.
Midway through the session, drivers pitted for fresh tyres before heading back out for another round of flying laps.
Many drivers struggled to find improvements on their second runs, making the initial laps on fresh rubber all the more crucial.
Fornaroli, however, managed to improve on his earlier time, showing that a better lap after the initial attempt was still possible.
Last-gasp lap sees Fornaroli edge out Martins for pole
With five minutes left, Dunne crucially needing a lap down in 18th, the final flurry of qualifying laps began.
Jak Crawford was first up and into third as Mini momentarily went fastest before Verschoor set a 1:15.253s to snatch provisional pole.
Fornaroli improved but only to second before Martins dethroned the Dutchman by just 0.010s.
Amid the numerous changes to the top 10, Amaury Cordeel found himself in fifth for Rodin Motorsport.
The Italian driver went quicker on his second attempt once again, posting the fastest first two sectors and edging into pole position by a razor-thin 0.014 seconds — a testament to how tight qualifying is at the Red Bull Ring.
Dunne finally put together a strong lap to climb to seventh, salvaging what could have otherwise been a disastrous qualifying session.
But it was Fornaroli who secured pole for the Feature Race ahead of Martins and Verschoor in the top three.
Mini ended the session in fourth, followed by Cordell in fifth, Roman Stanek sixth, Dunne seventh, Durksen eighth, Marti ninth, and John Bennett rounding out the top 10 for Sunday’s race.
With his 10th-place qualifying result, the British driver will start the Sprint Race from reverse-grid pole, joined on the front row by Marti.
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