Roman Stanek took pole in the final round of the 2025 Formula 2 season with a time of 1:36.836s, with Arvid Lindblad taking reverse pole around Abu Dhabi.
In a clean session for the final round of F2, drivers fought against track limits to take the final pole position of the season. One second covered from P1 to P19.
Leonardo Fornaroli closed up the championship in Qatar, leaving the team’s championship still up for grabs. His Invicta team is looking to retain its title with a 35-point gap to Hitech TGR in second.
The grid filtered out onto the track, with Gabriele Mini and Champion Fornaroli remaining in the pit lane initially. Sebastian Montoya was one of the first drivers to embark on a flying lap.
The PREMA driver crossed the line in second with a 1:37.972s. Not long after him came Mini, temporarily taking third with a time of 1:38.123s.
Jak Crawford made the quick jump from the Formula 1 machinery in FP1 for Aston Martin back into his DAMS Lucas Oil F2 car. Despite the significant shift, he hit the ground running on his flying lap, shooting to the top of the timings with a time of 1:37.633s.
However, PREMA were back looking for the top spot as Montoya took the line with a 1:37.604s, but it was short-lived as Crawford came back across the line, taking first place once again.
Lindblad joined the top five just 0.219s away from the leaders as Joshua Duerksen shot to the top of the timing sheets with a 1:37.464s.
Track limits were a consistent problem for the grid, with many of the front-runners suffering from track limit violations and subsequent lap time deletions.
A tight fight for pole
Turns 5 and 7 cropped up as the most common areas of issue. Lindblad and Mini both fell out of the top five, falling to the back of the order.
After a quick tyre change and a break in the pit lane. With ten minutes remaining in the session, the grid filtered back out for a second attempt at pole.
Mini had a brief moment when leaving the pits, pulling over into the working lane as the PREMA engineers rushed to restart the Italian’s engine. Luckily, the PREMA driver got out without issue and was on track, looking to improve from 13th.
In the first set of flying laps, Lindblad took provisional pole, but not for long as Ollie Goethe crossed the line first. Montoya looked to topple that with a purple first and second sector. The PREMA driver took P1 with a 1:37.040s.
The times were falling as the track wore in, with Crawford moving into P1 before being beaten on the clock by Stanek, who managed a time of 1:36.836s. Disaster struck for Goethe, who had his lap time deleted, dropping him to 16th.
With just over two minutes remaining, purple sectors were coming from Nikola Tsolov, Dino Beganovic and other drivers across the grid. Times were still improving, though more marginally than earlier.
Goethe recovered his deleted lap time, the German taking fifth. However, with personal bests appearing, it was still all to play for. Stanek was embarking on a final push lap, leading the last-ditch effort for pole.
Stanek shoots to the top to take top spot in final F2 qualifying of 2025
The gap to Stanek in P1 was just 0.087s with Crawford in second. Fornaroli wasn’t improving in the final sector and was unable to challenge for pole.
Stanek confirmed his pole with a time of 1:36.836s. Crawford finished second, starting alongside the Invicta with a time of 1:36.923s.
Lindblad and Tsolov ended the session in tenth and ninth. Lining up in the front row in the Sprint Race with the reverse grid, with F1-bound Lindblad taking reverse pole.
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