Fornaroli in first place as F2 paddock returns to action at Losail

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Formula 2 points leader Leonardo Fornaroli was fastest as the paddock returned to action at Losail on Friday afternoon.

Everyone ran Pirelli’s hard compound tyres for free practice, before they switch to softs for qualifying later today.

DAMS’ Jak Crawford was first to the top in the 45-minute session, a 1m42.715s being his opening benchmark set almost nine minutes in.

That was then beaten by ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins and Hitech GP’s Luke Browning, and a minute later they were at the bottom of the top 10 as MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor posted a 1m41.163s and Laurens van Hoepen (Trident) and Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing) were also able to lap sub-1m42s.

Fornaroli got within 0.225 seconds of Verschoor’s pace, and after being shuffled all the way down to 15th the title-contending Crawford improved to 1m41.539s and fifth place on his next lap.

That laptime was deleted though, and approaching the 15-minute mark he and Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne occupied the bottom two positions while Fornaroli had lowered the pace to 1m40.342s to lead Verschoor by 0.04s and Martins by 0.08s.

Next to the top was Browning, a 1m39.701s putting him 0.567s ahead of Martins as Crawford and Dunne showed more representative pace to sit eighth and ninth but remained a second off the fastest lap.

Invicta’s Roman Stanek reduced Browning’s advantage to 0.345s before yellow flags waved, and once the track was fully green again Verschoor and Fornaroli both got within 0.05s of the new benchmark. Prema’s Sebastian Montoya demoted Stanek to fifth, and Martins fell to eighth as his fastest lap was deleted.

After a cooldown lap, Browning lowered the pace again to 1m39.285s and Stanek set a 1m39.748s in third. Verschoor lapped 0.251s shy of Browning, then a rapid sector one put Fornaroli 0.057s off top spot as the second half of practice began.

Villagomez and Dunne disputed fifth place before the end of the first runs, then Fornaroli waited for a quieter track before an excellent sector one set up another personal best lap. He went fastest with a 1m39.064s, and Stanek utilised clean air as well for two improvements that left him 0.169s off the new benchmark laptime.

The next bunch of improvements came with eight-and-a-half minutes to go, and Hitech’s Dino Beganovic jumped from 19th to fifth ahead of Dunne. Next time by he did even better, lapping 0.044s off Fornaroli as MP’s Oliver Goethe improved to fourth.

That became fifth as Stanek set a 1m39.295s in the final five minutes to snatch back a spot, and with two minutes to go Dunne posted a 1m39.258s to go third fastest.

Most outside the top 10 were improving, as was Fornaroli who laid down an unbeatable 1m38.656s with 11s left of practice. The chequered flag waved, and Beganovic reduced Fornaroli’s advantage to 0.104s. Meanwhile team-mate Browning spun.

Free practice results