Practice-
Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov made a strong start to his Madrid weekend by topping the timesheets in Free Practice.
The Championship leader set the pace with a 1:47.059 to lead Van Amersfoort Racing duo Nico Varrone and Rafael Villagomez.
Tsolov was the early pacesetter on 1:50.065, but he soon found himself in P2 with Invicta Racing’s Joshua Duerksen going quickest by over six-tenths.
Kush Maini then took over at the top with a 1:49.120, but soon after his ART Grand Prix teammate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak found the barrier at the exit of Turn 19.
The Thai driver was out of the car and ok. With the track cleared, running resumed with over six minutes to go after the session was extended.
Alexander Dunne went to P1 on a 1:48.286 with Dino Beganovic following him across the line to go P2.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver was just 0.033s off the leading time.
Moments later, Tsolov returned to the top with a 1:48.245, before improving to a 1:47.059 on his next lap, with Nico Varrone 0.110s behind.
Maini briefly went quickest at the chequered flag but lost his time for exceeding track limits, just as Laurens van Hoepen found the barrier at Turn 13, bringing out the yellow flags at the session’s end.
Tsolov finished in P1 ahead of VAR duo of Varrone and Rafael Villagomez.
Qualifying-
Dino Beganovic was in superb form to earn the Aramco Pole Position Award, his first since the opening round of the 2026 campaign.
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver was a consistent presence at the top of the times, delivering a 1:44.331 to take the first ever FIA Formula 2 pole in Madrid. He beat Alexander Dunne and Rafael Camara to top spot.
On the first set of push laps, ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini suffered a spin ahead of Turn 15 and hit the wall to bring out the Red Flags.
In a separate incident, Sebastian Montoya tagged the barriers in his PREMA Racing car to sustain suspension damage. Maini was out of his car and OK while the Colombian recovered to pit lane entry.
The session resumed with 23 minutes remaining, and everyone eager to record a banker lap.
Nikola Tsolov was the early pacesetter, going quickest on a 1:46.328 for Campos Racing, with Dunne P2 for Rodin Motorsport, 0.002s down on the leading effort.
The second Red Flag arrived as Nico Varrone found the barrier at Turn 18 in the Van Amersfoort Racing. He was out of the car and OK, but everyone else returned to the pit lane while his car was recovered.
Running resumed with 18 minutes left on the clock and once again, there was a rush to get another lap in.
Dunne took top spot by almost a full second as the track continued to improve. Trident’s Laurens van Hoepen went up to P2 nearly eight tenths off top spot.
Beganovic then delivered a 1:45.182 to secure P1 by 0.2s over Dunne, with teammate Roman Bilinski going third fastest with little over 11 minutes remaining.
The Swede found another chunk of time with eight minutes to go, setting a 1:44.578 to extend his advantage to eight-tenths of a second over his closest challenger in Dunne.
A third Red Flag arrived with just over five minutes remaining, with John Bennett in the barriers. The Trident driver was OK, but his car needed clearing from Turn 11.
Running resumed once more with 05:28 on the clock and time for one last run.
Personal best sectors were flying in, and Dunne pipped Beganovic to take top spot briefly until the Swede finished his latest lap, lowering the time to be a 1:44.331.
Despite a big oversteer moment at the final corner, Invicta Racing’s Camara jumped up to third having been outside the top 10 prior to crossing the line.
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