Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Formula 2 points leader Leonardo Fornaroli has inherited pole position for the feature race at Losail after Oliver Goethe was handed a double grid penalty.
MP Motorsport driver Goethe had set a 1m36.115s in qualifying to beat Fornaroli to pole by 0.04 seconds, and initially it looked like Fornaroli was the one with something to worry about as he broke down at the end of the session.
That delayed his route to the post-qualifying press conference, but his car passed technical scrutineering without issue so his result was safe.
Later on, Goethe was found guilty of impeding Rodin Motorsport’s Martinius Stenshorne between turns five and six during the session and handed a three-place grid penalty for Saturday’s sprint race and for Sunday’s feature race. That means he will start 13th on the sprint race’s reversed grid, while team-mate Richard Verschoor lines up on pole.
Fornaroli provisionally shares the feature race front row with ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins. Rodin’s Alex Dunne, Verschoor, DAMS’ Jak Crawford and Hitech GP’s Luke Browning, who are Fornaroli’s title rivals, are set to start fifth, 10th, 15th and 18th.
Goethe had been “extremely, extremely pleased” to qualify on pole for the first time in his F2 career and “really gave it my all on that last lap” to clinch top spot.
“Over the long break [since Baku] I was working really hard so I had a good feeling about this weekend. I was expecting something good. We were quick here last year. Maybe not pole position but I knew I was capable of it,” he said to media including Formula Scout before his penalty was applied.
“I am confident going into the races. On this track there are a lot of things that can happen, the degradation is quite big so I have to manage it well. I am looking forward to it.”
The qualifying result, which now has not translated into starting from the front, was of particular significance to Goethe.
“It means a huge amount, really. It has been a tough year. A lot of downs this year so I am happy for myself, for my family and for the whole team,” he reflected.
“They have been working really hard to get me back up. I’ve been working really hard, so it feels really good.”
Later on he added: “At the start of the season, let’s say the first half of the season, I would say qualifying was actually the weaker point. So it feels actually extra nice to be on top in qualifying. I’ve been working really hard to finally deliver this, on the simulator, working with the team, working on myself training. So I would say just slowly but surely it’s been coming this season, and now I’ve been able to deliver that good lap, and I feel like we can use this momentum to continue to be strong.”