Fornaroli beats Williams pair to F2 pole at Bahrain Grand Prix

SAKHIR–Leonardo Fornaroli took pole position for the FIA Formula 2 weekend in Bahrain after a close fight with Victor Martins for the fastest lap.

The Invicta Racing driver took pole with a lap of 1:44.008 on his final attempt to beat his French rival by over a tenth.

Martins, the most recent signing to the Williams junior driver program, was followed by Luke Browning, fresh out of his own appearance for the Williams F1 team in Free Practice.

At the front it was Fornaroli who was fastest in the early stages before Pepe Martí led a second set of hot laps to take the top spot.

With eight minutes left, all of the drivers returned for another attempt, with the Martins setting the early pace, unbeatable before the Italian took to the track and cemented his pole position.

"Very very happy about today," said Fornaroli.

"We knew the pace was strong as we saw from testing, so a lot of confidence on today."

"Free practice already felt good, even if it was another world compared to testing, but then when we went to qualifying, since lap one, I felt very good with everything, I was really confident to push to the max."

The top three are some of the most charismatic on the grid, leading to a mix of emotions in the press conference following the session.

Fornaroli, meekly confident, sat between the blissful Victor Martins and the stoic Luke Browning, both wearing their Williams racing suits.

Martins, having just signed this week, was wearing his new blue suit with pride.

"I think it was a great day overall," said the Frenchman.

"Fighting for pole today, also in Melbourne when I got promoted to pole on Sunday, I think it's been a good start to the season. We are back, definitely, since the end of last year, and we definitely have the car to always fight for pole, which I'm super happy and confident with."

Browning, meanwhile, was his usual unflappable self despite back-to-back Formula 1 and Formula 2 sessions.

"Enjoyed that a lot, it has to be said," said the Brit. "After testing, to make this jump, just incredible."

"Really happy with the Hitech team I have around me. They've been fantastic and I'm very grateful to them.

"Obviously the adaptation was tough, hoping out of a Formula 1 car, straight into Formula 2, it wasn't easy, but I think we made the most of it today. And I think the other guys on the couch can probably vouch it wasn't easy today.

"Track conditions are a second and a half slower than expected, so I think it was very easy to make a mistake. I think my main goal was just to hit every apex and we did that, so very happy with my lap today, and probably why I was so excited over the radio is that I didn't exactly expect to be here from testing.

"So yeah, happy."

For Fornaroli, it is a maiden pole position for Invicta Racing, with the Italian sitting second in the standings after finishing second in the Melbourne sprint race before the feature race was cancelled due to heavy rain.

Martins and Browning were followed by Alex Dunne and Roman Stanek in the qualifying order, with Joshua Durksen qualifying tenth and securing pole position for the reverse-grid sprint race on Saturday.

The FIA Formula 2 sprint race is underway at 12.15am AEST on Sunday morning, with the feature race at 9.25pm before the Bahrain Grand Prix.

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