Crawford takes F2 pole in Jeddah at last second after red flag restart

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Jak Crawford took DAMS’ first Formula 2 pole position in over two years at the very end of qualifying in Jeddah.

He set a 1m43.579s to beat ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins by 0.022 seconds, with Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli a further 0.07s back in third.

A red flag period caused by Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett hitting the wall at turn 16 then stopping on track set up a late showdown for pole in which drivers had five minutes to get back out on track and set either one or two flying laps.

The second runs had already begun when Bennett crashed out, but only four drivers had lapped at a representative pace after swapping tyres.

Hitech GP’s Luke Browning topped the times just before red flags waved, a 1m43.737s putting him just ahead of Prema’s Gabriele Mini. Richard Verschoor meanwhile had been on a good lap and was set to improve from eighth place, but the MP Motorsport driver was just short of completing it when the stoppage began.

When qualifying restarted, Fornaroli was the first to better Browning but he was quickly beaten by Martins. The track was getting faster, so Crawford’s strategy of leaving it as late as possible to go for his final lap paid off and he claimed his first pole since 2023.

Browning was among the few drivers not to improve so qualified fourth, ahead of Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad who had been atop the times himself following the first runs. At that point he led Martins, who has now come in second in three qualifying sessions in a row.

Lindblad was just 0.164s off pole, and 0.4s covered the top 10. Invicta’s Roman Stanek will start the reversed-grid sprint race from pole after going 10th fastest in qualifying, and will share the front row with Verschoor. On row two will be Mini and Campos’s Pepe Marti.

Qualifying results