Practice-
Leonardo Fornaroli kicked off his Lusail weekend in strong form, setting the fastest time of the free practice session with a 1:38.656.
The Invicta Racing driver completed that time with his final lap of the 45 minute outing, with Hitech TGR’s Dino Beganovic in second and Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne in third.
After the first set of laps though, it was MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor who topped the timesheets with a 1:41.163, with Fornaroli in second, over two-tenths behind.
Fornaroli then led the way with a 1:40.342, but it was close at the top, as Verschoor and Victor Martins went to within 0.080s off the Italian’s leading time.
Luke Browning then took over at the top on a 1:39.701, while Verschoor made things even closer, going to within 0.009s of his title rival, as Fornaroli settled into P3.
Browning lowered the time to beat on his next attempt with a 1:39.285, and this time he was followed by the Invicta pairing of Fornaroli and Roman Stanek.
The Hitech TGR driver then ducked into the pitlane after that lap but the Championship leader continued on and went fastest on a 1:39.064.
Browning had then been on a quicker lap but ran wide in the final sector. However, his teammate Beganovic continued to fly the Hitech flag going to P2, 0.044s off Fornaroli’s time.
As the session entered its final stages, the drivers were still finding time on their hard tyres, with Dunne jumping up to third.
Fornaroli continued to set the standard and improved to a 1:38.656 on his final lap, although Beganovic closed to the gap to 0.102s moment later.
Qualifying-
Oliver Goethe claimed his maiden FIA Formula 2 Aramco Pole Position Award, logging a 1:36.115 for MP Motorsport.
Championship leader, Leonardo Fornaroli had been fastest for much of the qualifying session but was bested by just 0.040s to wind up second, ahead of ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins in third.
PREMA Racing’s Sebastian Montoya set the early pace before the Invicta Racing duo of Roman Stanek and then Fornaroli went quicker still. The pair were split by Jak Crawford, but it was the Championship leader that went P1 on a 1:37.850 after the first laps.
Martins delivered a 1:37.512 to go to the top on his second attempt, until MP Motorsport teammates Oliver Goethe and Richard Verschoor went 1-2.
Stanek put Invicta back on top with a 1:37.189, but teammate Fornaroli once again went quickest of all, this time laying down on a 1:36.996.
Several drivers began to peel into the pitlane to bring their first run to a close, but Goethe went to within 0.075s of Fornaroli on his third flying lap, improving to P2.
Into the final 10 minutes and everyone returned to the track with fresh Soft tyres and Dino Beganovic delivered a time good enough for provisional pole on a 1:36.826.
Fornaroli was flying behind though, and he went back to P1 on a 1:36.307. Stanek cut the gap down to 0.214s in P2, while Goethe delivered the third-quickest time to go ahead of Beganovic.
Goethe though found enough time to go in front of Fornaroli as both drivers improved on their final attempts, just 0.040s between them in favour of the MP driver as he set a 1:36.115.
However, Goethe was handed a grid penalty following the conclusion of qualifying, as he impeded Martinius Stenshorne at Turn 6. It then promotes Leonardo Fornaroli for pole position in the feature race.
Sprint Race-
Duerksen got the best launch from the front row to take the lead from Verschoor, while Nikola Tsolov slotted into third place on the run to Turn 1.
Championship leader, Leonardo Fornaroli went wheel-to-wheel with teammate Roman Stanek on the opening lap and attempted a move on the second tour, though was unable to clear his teammate as the Invicta Racing pair fought over seventh place.
Onto Lap 4, and with DRS enabled, Verschoor had clawed his way back to within a second of Duerksen and he swept back into the lead at Turn 1.
The MP title-hopeful was comfortably the fastest driver on track in the following laps, extending his advantage over the pack to two seconds.
Further back, a wide moment at Turn 4 on Lap 12 lost Victory Martins P11 to Dino Beganovic and on the following tour he was passed by Gabriele Mini, dropping him to 13th.
Lap 14 and a collision between TRIDENT teammate Laurens van Hoepen and James Wharton left the latter beached in the gravel at Turn 1. It brought out the Safety Car and wiped out race leader Verschoor’s four-second advantage.
Stanek opted to pit, the only driver from inside the top 10 to fit the softs, while Arvid Lindblad, Oliver Goethe, John Bennett, Luke Browning, Cian Shields and Kush Maini also fitted the red-marked tyres. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver did however come to a halt before racing resumed, extending the Safety Car period.
Racing resumed entering Lap 17 with Verschoor retaining his lead over Duerksen with seven laps to go. By Lap 20, the advantage was back out to 2.4s with Tsolov trailing by a further second in P3.
A spin for Shields on the exit of Turn 5 brought out the Safety Car once more, bringing the pack back together and setting up a final lap shootout.
Verschoor got things back underway and the fight for the podium places heading into Turn 1 was on.
Tsolov was rounded by Villagomez, who ran wide ahead of Turn 2 but claimed the place, whilst the Bulgarian driver went wide himself and fell from third to 10th.
The Dutch driver was untroubled though, taking the Lusail Sprint Race victory ahead of Duerksen and Villagomez after his final lap pass on Tsolov.
Feature Race-
It was a great start from Martins, taking the lead from Fornaroli going into Turn 1, while Dunne took P4 for Oliver Goethe at Turn 3.
The Rodin driver was chasing Roman Stanek for third, but ran wide at the final corner. It allowed Goethe and Nikola Tsolov to close in, although Dunne was able to hold off the chasing pair.
Martins then set the fastest lap and by the start of lap 3, he had built up a 1.7s gap to Fornaroli, with the Italian coming on the radio to complain of his soft tyres to his Invicta tam.
Further behind them, Sebastian Montoya used the DRS to good effect to get ahead of Tsolov for P6 into Turn 1.
Martins was 4.1s clear of Fornaroli by the start of Lap 5, and it looked like Invicta were struggling on the soft tyres, as Dunne overtook Stanek for P3 into Turn 1.
The pit window opened up at the end of Lap 6 and Fornaroli, Dunne, Montoya, Verschoor and Duerksen came in to swap to the Hard tyres.
The race leader was in on the next lap, joined in the pitlane by Goethe and Stanek. It was a slow stop for Martins, but he was still able to come back out ahead of Fornaroli and Dunne.
At the front of the field, Dino Beganovic was the lead driver on the alternative strategy and by the end of Lap 10, he had built a 7.1s lead to Arvid Lindblad.
But in the battle for the net race lead, Fornaroli and Dunne were closing in on Martins, the Championship leader 1.4s behind by the start of Lap 11.
Verschoor was looking to fight his way through the field and having overtaken Villagomez, he bided his time before overtaking Stanek, putting him in a net P7.
The Safety Car was then deployed on Lap 15, with Oliver Goethe having stopped on track, just as Dunne and Tsolov were given five-second time penalties for an unsafe release in the pitlane.
Racing resumed on Lap 17 of 32, and Beganovic once again was showing good pace, and had built a 1.7s lead to teammate Luke Browning by the start of the next lap.
Martins was now up to fifth, leading the drivers who had pitted, but he was struggling to overtake Laurens van Hoepen, allowing Fornaroli to close in on the Frenchman.
Beganovic was 4.2s clear of Browning at the start of Lap 22, while Fornaroli was now 1.1s behind Martins, just as Lindblad on his Soft tyres, continued to reduce the gap.
But by Lap 25, the option tyre runners were starting to struggle, as Dunne closed in on Lindblad for seventh on the road. However, the Campos Racing driver held him off at Turn 1.
In the battle for the net race lead, Fornaroli was now within DRS range of Martins, while Dunne went to the inside of Lindblad at Turn 1 to take seventh place.
After a superb stint, Beganovic was called in to fit the softs at the end of Lap 27, coming back out in P12. Browning and Bennett then pitted on Lap 29, leaving Martins and Fornaroli to fight for the race win.
However the ART driver was 1.1s clear of Fornaroli, as Dunne closed in, looking to build the five second gap he needed to keep third ahead of Lindblad. But out in front, Martins had done enough to win the Feature Race, but the day belonged to Fornaroli, as he claimed the 2025 FIA Formula 2 title by finishing second.
Jordan's Track Talk 
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