Photo: MRF Racing
British driver Toby Sowery took a comfortable pole position in the first round of the 2014-15 MRF Formula 2000 Challenge season at Losail on Thursday.
The 18-year-old, who clinched the MSV F3 Cup this year, was on top almost for the whole session, and ultimately ended up over half-a-second quicker than Russian karter Nikita Mazepin in second.
GP3 driver Ryan Cullen, one of the sophomores of the series this season, was third fastest, and will share row two on the grid with Indian driver Raj Bharath.
Former Formula BMW driver Kyle Mitchell of South Africa was fifth, ahead of Mathias Lauda, son of three-time F1 champion Niki. Protyre Formula Renault regular and this year’s MRF 1600 champion Tarun Reddy will share row four of the grid with Freddie Hunt, son of another F1 champion James Hunt.
Brazilian karting graduate Pedro Cardoso was ninth quickest, while Australian Dylan Young, a third-year driver in the series, brought up the top ten.
Earlier in the day, Sowery dominated proceedings in the two practice sessions, with Bharath in second place on both occasions.
Qualifying results
| Pos. | Driver | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Toby Sowery | 2:00.294 | 13 | |
| 2 | Nikita Mazepin | 2:00.834 | 0.540 | 12 |
| 3 | Ryan Cullen | 2:00.925 | 0.631 | 13 |
| 4 | Raj Bharath | 2:00.948 | 0.654 | 13 |
| 5 | Kyle Mitchell | 2:01.077 | 0.783 | 13 |
| 6 | Mathias Lauda | 2:01.089 | 0.795 | 12 |
| 7 | Tarun Reddy | 2:01.370 | 1.076 | 12 |
| 8 | Freddie Hunt | 2:01.556 | 1.262 | 12 |
| 9 | Pedro Cardoso | 2:01.847 | 1.553 | 6 |
| 10 | Dylan Young | 2:02.061 | 1.767 | 12 |
| 11 | Vikash Anand | 2:03.073 | 2.779 | 12 |
| 12 | Lee Keshav | 2:03.310 | 3.016 | 10 |
| 13 | Laura Tillett | 2:03.893 | 3.599 | 3 |
| 14 | Vinicius Papareli | 3:56.342 | 1:56.048 | 1 |