Roman Stanek scores his first FIA F2 pole in feature race in Hungary, as Rafael Camara continued his charge in F3.
F2:
Roman Stanek took his maiden Aramco Pole Position Award with a superb performance in Budapest, beating his Invicta Racing teammate Leonardo Fornaroli to the top spot. The Czech driver completed a 1:28.779 to go to P1 but had to watch on from the pit lane as Fornaroli finished his final attempt. However, the Italian missed out on pole by 0.146s, as DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford sealed P3.
Arvid Lindblad was the first driver to set a lap and completed a 1:30.319 to set the early benchmark. But there were several improvements behind him, as Oliver Goethe continued his form from Free Practice to go top on a 1:29.308. Then, Stanek eclipsed the MP Motorsport driver’s time by 0.141s to take P1 after the first lap.
The drivers were able to push on for a second lap on their Soft tyres, and Stanek extended his advantage out in front with a 1:29.107, putting 0.181s between he and Goethe. Stanek’s teammate Fornaroli had made the decision to come out of the pitlane later the rest of his rivals, giving him the chance to do his first push laps on an empty track.
The Championship leader briefly went to P1, but his time was deleted for exceeding track limits. He did continue for another attempt, ending up in P4 just as the field returned for their final laps. With a new set of Soft tyres, Stanek lowered the benchmark time to a 1:28.779, with Crawford going up to second, 0.173s off the pace, as Luke Browning went to P3.
Fornaroli then returned to the track with just over four minutes left in the session, having fallen outside the top 10, as his rivals finished came back into the pit lane. With the chequered flag waving the Invicta driver went to P2, 0.146s off Stanek, who took his maiden Formula 2 Pole Position.
Crawford wound up third, ahead of Browning, with Joshua Duerksen in fifth for AIX Racing. Oliver Goethe was sixth, in front of Victor Martins and Arvid Lindblad, with Alexander Dunne in P9 and Josep María Martí in P10. That means Martí is set to start on reverse grid pole in Saturday’s Sprint Race.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1951288598516421077
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of today’s FIA Formula 2 Qualifying in Budapest, Sebastián Montoya has been awarded grid penalties for both the Sprint and Feature Races. Montoya was summoned to the Stewards after the session for allegedly impeding Car 12 belonging to Kush Maini of DAMS Lucas Oil.
After hearing from both drivers, along with their respective team representatives, the Stewards determined that Montoya had unnecessarily impeded Maini at the exit of Turn 2, breaching Article 31.6 of the FIA Formula 2 Sporting Regulations. As a result, they elected to impose a grid drop of three positions for both races this weekend. Having been set to start both races from P18, Montoya will now line up in P21.
F3:
Rafael Câmara took a big step towards the 2025 Drivers’ Championship, taking his fifth Aramco Pole Position Award of the season. Under pressure heading into the final attempts of the day, the TRIDENT driver delivered a 1:32.510 to go less than a hundredth clear of his Campos Racing rival Mari Boya in second. Tuukka Taponen finished third for ART Grand Prix after a late improvement of his own.
Ugo Ugochukwu laid down the time to beat early on, setting a 1:33.436 on his first attempt for PREMA Racing. Noah Stromsted beat that shortly after to go quicker on a 1:33.054, with Laurens van Hoepen going up to second for ART, 0.055s down on the TRIDENT driver’s time. Câmara had been P5 after his first laptime of the session, but his time was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 4.
He immediately returned to the pitlane complaining of too much understeer around the entirety of the lap. Campos opted to hold their drivers back to run in the gap on an empty track. It looked to pay off for them in their first runs, with Boya going to the top of the times on a 1:33.013. Teammates Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak followed by going P2, 0.3s down, while Nikola Tsolov went to fourth after their first laps.
The trio returned to the pit lane while the rest of the field headed back out for their second set of attempts with half the session remaining. Brando Badoer put PREMA to the top and teammate Noel León followed to go P2 momentarily. MP Motorsport’s Alessandro Giusti then posted a time to go quickest, until Charlie Wurz restored TRIDENT top of the pile on a 1:32.737. Ugochukwu followed across the line to go second, losing out on P1 by just 0.001s.
After the second flurry of laps, the top four were separated by just 0.089s, with Câmara fifth, 0.110s off his teammate’s leading time. The Campos trio then delivered their second attempts with Boya returning to P1 on a 1:32.653. Inthraphuvasak went to eighth 0.241s down on the Spaniard, but Tsolov was left P15 going into the final eight minutes of the session.
Into the final attempts and Gerrard Xie delivered an improvement to go up to second for Hitech TGR, 0.010s off Boya’s earlier effort. Théophile Nael went to third a further thousandth behind the Chinese driver, but Tuukka Taponen then went to provisional pole by the same margin, 1:32.652 putting him 0.001s clear of Boya in second.
Câmara and Boya then set their final laps, and the Brazilian delivered pole position for the fifth time in 2025 on a 1:32.510, 0.008s clear of Boya who improved one final time to go second again. Taponen wound up third ahead of Xie and Nael. Wurz was sixth ahead of Ugochukwu, Badoer, Giusti, James Wharton, James Hedley and Inthraphuvasak, who rounded out the top 12.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1951203392795123753
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of FIA Formula 3 Qualifying in Budapest, two drivers have been handed post-session penalties. Firstly, Callum Voisin has been awarded a three-place grid penalty for both the Sprint and Feature Races this weekend. The Rodin Motorsport driver was alleged to have impeded Car 15 belonging to Hitech TGR’s Nikita Johnson at Turn 13.
After the session, the Stewards examined available video and GPS evidence and heard from the drivers and their team representatives. The Stewards determined that Voisin had unnecessarily impeded Car 15 at the exit of Turn 13, and elected to apply the standard impeding penalty. As a result of his three-place penalty and having originally qualified P23, the Briton is now set to start both races from 26th position.
Finally, DAMS Lucas Oil’s Christian Ho has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the Budapest Sprint and Feature Race. The Singaporean driver was alleged to have impeded Noel León during Qualifying. After the session, the Stewards looked at available video evidence and heard from team representatives along with both drivers.
They determined that Car 31 had unnecessarily impeded Car 2 at Turn 2, breaching Article 31.6 of the FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations, and applied the standard penalty for such an infringement in a Qualifying session. Having originally qualified 24th, Ho is now set to line up for both races in P27.
[The story is as per press release]