Formula 2: Qualification in Jeddah was won by Crawford
The Formula 2 qualifying in Jeddah took place in the late afternoon, when it became a little cooler, and above all, the asphalt was no longer as hot as during the afternoon practice. Back then, his temperature was approaching 60 degrees, but now it has dropped to forty-something.
Victor Martin showed the best time in the afternoon in conditions of extreme heat, and it was interesting to see to what extent this result reflects his mood, because the ART racer's streak of bad luck is still ongoing, and after two stages of the season he takes only 7th place in the individual standings. Presumably, he is becoming more and more angry at fate and must make every possible effort to change the situation.
By the way, in 2023, it was Victor who won pole on this track, although even then he was unlucky because he did not reach the finish line.
Sebastian Montoya, the son of former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, was the first to show a more or less representative time, and it is clear that he is trying hard in his debut season in F2. But he still lacks skill and experience.
Martin completed the lap almost half a second faster, the result of his first serious attempt was 1:44.559. Alex Dunn, the winner of Sunday's race in Bahrain, also beat Montoya, while Sebastian, trying to drive another lap faster, made the mistake of locking the brakes.
Martin stayed at the top of the leaderboard for only about ten minutes, probably no longer, because Richard Fershor and then Arvid Lindblad were immediately ahead of him. Victor improved, but could only get to the second line, and Lindblad, a 17-year-old Campos Racing racer and participant in the Red Bull youth program, rose to the first, showing a result of 1:44.250.
Dunn tried to get ahead of him, but made a mistake, braked in one of the corners, blocked the wheels, ruining what was left of his first set of tires, and did not keep the car within the track.
The first half of qualifying was over, the drivers returned to the pit lane for fresh, soft tires and drove back to the track with just over 10 minutes left before the end of the session.
As expected, the speeds increased, however, as did the crowding on the rather narrow city ring. And when more than two dozen cars are running on the track at the same time in qualifying mode, the riders will inevitably interfere with each other.
In turn, Gabriele Mini took the interim pole, then Luke Browning, who completed a lap in 1:43.737, and this was already a serious claim. But then, at the exit of turn 16, John Bennett, a debutant of the Dutch Van Amersfoort Racing team, made a mistake, caught the bump and crashed the car.
His car stopped on the track, and the session was stopped with red flags when there were 5 minutes left until the end of qualifying. In the past, it has happened more than once that in similar situations, no one has been able to improve the result of a rider who was in first place at that time. Nevertheless, the fight was not over, and everyone–except Bennett, of course–still had the formal opportunity to make another attempt.
After about a 5-minute pause, during which the damaged car was evacuated from the highway, the stopwatch was started again. The mini was the first to hit the track, none of his rivals interfered with him, but apparently the inspiration of the Italian Prema Racing driver changed somewhat, so he did not improve the time.
But Leonardo Fornaroli, the leader of the individual standings, succeeded first, then Victor Martin, and it already seemed that he would win the pole, but Jack Crawford blocked his time, and by only 0.022 seconds! But it was enough for the American DAMS racer to win the Formula 2 qualifying for the second time in his career.
On the way to the pits, he did not hide his overflowing delight and announced this qualifying lap on the radio as his best achievement in F2.
It's clear that Martin was a little upset, as was Fornaroli, but they're still starting from the front two rows, so they'll still have an opportunity to win back on Sunday in the main race of the weekend. And in Saturday's sprint, the yellow Dallara of Roman Stanek, an Invicta Racing driver, will be on pole. Recall that a partially reversible starting grid is used in the youth series.
After the end of the session, it became known about Sebastian Montoya's disqualification: during a technical inspection, it turned out that there was less than 0.8 kg of fuel in the tank of his car, and this is a serious violation of the technical regulations of Formula 2, followed by severe sanctions.
Qualification results
Pilot
The Time Team
Difference
Circles
1. D.Crawford
DAMS
1:43.579
-
10
2. V.Martin
ART Grand Prix
1:43.601
+0.022
11
3 . L.Fornaroli
Invicta Racing
1:43.671
+0.092
12
4 . L. Browning
Hitech GP
1:43.737
+0.158
13
5 . A.Lindblad
Campos
1:43.743
+0.164
12
6 . A. Dunn
Rodin Motorsport
1:43.801
+0.222
12
7 . X.Marty
Campos Racing
1:43.831
+0.252
12
8 . G.Mini
Prema
1:43.842
+0.263
13
9 . R.Fershor
MP Motorsport
1:43.916
+0.337
11
10. R.Stanek
Invicta Racing
1:44.548
+0.400
11
11. O. Goethe
MP Motorsport
1:44.086
+0.507
12
12. K.Maini
DAMS
1:44.153
+0.574
10
13. D. Beganovich
Hitech GP
1:44.161
+0.582
13
14. A.Kordil
Rodin Motorsport
1:44.194
+0.615
11
15. S.Megetunif
Trident
1:44.265
+0.686
11
16. R.Miata
Rodin Motorsport
1:44.460
+0.881
11
– With.Montoya
Prema
1:44.531
+0.952
12
17. D.Durksen
AIX Racing
1:44.543
+0.964
11
18. M.Esterson
Trident
1:44.906
+1.327
12
19. R.Villagomes
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:44.965
+1.386
12
20. D. Bennett
Van Amersfoort Racing
1:45.152
+1.573
09
21. K. Shields
AIX Racing
1:45.683
+2.104
10
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