F2 Abu Dhabi GP 2025 Qualifying: Stanek Delivers Under Lights as Crawford Pushes Close

Roman Stanek picked his moment. Yas Marina always rewards timing, and the Invicta driver found the lap that mattered when the session broke open. A 1:36.836 put him clear by 0.087s. Jak Crawford stayed in the fight all the way to the line. Leonardo Fornaroli completed the top three to cement a strong Invicta platform for the final weekend of the season. A qualifying hour that shifted often, then tightened again right at the end.

Key Points – F2 Abu Dhabi GP 2025 Qualifying

• Stanek takes pole with a 1:36.836
• Crawford P2, 0.087s behind
• Fornaroli completes the top three for Invicta
• Beganovic matches Goethe before the deletion drama
• Montoya strong early but ends P5
• Goethe recovers to P6 after losing his best lap
• Martins P7, Duerksen P8
• Campos pair Tsolov and Lindblad seal P9 and P10
• Reverse-grid Sprint Race front row: Tsolov and Lindblad

Stanek Settles Early Chaos as Times Begin to Fall

The first phase set its tone quickly. Drivers hunted clean air through the final sector. Sebastián Montoya struck first with a 1:37.972 to give PREMA the early benchmark.
Crawford answered with authority. A lap 0.339s clear reset the rhythm.

Joshua Duerksen kept himself in the frame. His 1:37.464 took him to within 0.091s of Crawford’s time and briefly put AIX Racing on top. Montoya then reclaimed P1 with a 1:37.604.
The early order bounced around. Fornaroli stayed close. The top four traded purple sectors without any one driver breaking free.

Duerksen held provisional pole at the end of the first runs, but Yas Marina was warming up. The real fight was still coming.

Mid-Session Swings Bring Everyone Into Play

The middle phase pulled more drivers into the front group.
Oliver Goethe found pace on his next push lap and went fastest with a 1:37.086. Dino Beganovic matched it. Two laps, same time, different lines through the final corner.

Both were immediately beaten. Montoya jumped back to P1. Crawford followed.
The pattern felt familiar to Qatar. Clear road meant everything. Track evolution kept nudging the lap times towards the 1:36s.

Then the twist. Goethe’s best time was deleted for track limits.
His drop to P16 opened the session again and forced teams to re-evaluate their final-run approach.

Final Runs Deliver the Lap That Settled Everything

The last laps decided it.
Stanek rolled out with patience, built tyre temperature, and pieced together the cleanest lap of the night. A 1:36.836.
Crawford pushed hard but missed the top time by just 0.087s.

Fornaroli found more pace on his final attempt to take third.
Beganovic settled into P4. Montoya landed fifth after leading periods of the session. Goethe recovered well after his deletion, climbing to sixth. Martins took seventh. Duerksen eighth. Campos locked down ninth and tenth, meaning Tsolov and Lindblad will lead the Sprint field on the reverse grid.

One final lap. One final shift.
Pole belonged to Stanek.

Provisional Classification – F2 Abu Dhabi GP 2025 Qualifying

Standout Stories

Stanek takes control at the perfect moment
He timed the session better than anyone. Clean lap. Maximum reward.

Crawford carries his FP form straight into Qualifying
The gap was tiny. The threat for Sunday is real.

Fornaroli keeps Invicta’s title ambitions on track
Quiet but clinical. Exactly what the team needed.

Goethe resets after losing a lap
Dropping to P16 would rattle most drivers. Recovering to P6 showed real composure.

Beganovic confirms late-season confidence
P4. Strong sector detail. A driver growing sharper each round.

Campos own the Sprint storyline
Tsolov and Lindblad launch from the front row. Clear air and opportunity.

Tyre Insight – What We Learned in Qualifying

The Soft tyre shaped everything.
Grip built through every run. The best laps arrived right at the flag. Sector 3, as always at Yas Marina, punished the smallest misjudgement. Goethe’s deletion showed how delicate the margins were.

Across the weekend the dynamic shifts.
Sprint under the lights. Feature in heat. Rear traction will define long-run pace. The overcut remains powerful, and drivers stuck in traffic will struggle with tyre life over the first stint.

Strategy will reshape this grid fast.

Sprint Ahead

Campos lock out the reverse-grid front row.
Tsolov starts with clear air. Lindblad has room to attack.
Stanek, Crawford and Fornaroli begin the Sprint in eighth, ninth and tenth, boxed together in the midfield pressure zone.

Expect early movement. Expect risk.
Expect the championship tone to shift again before the Feature Race even starts.

Coffee Corner Take

Stanek didn’t stumble into this. He built it across a session that never properly settled. Early traffic. Middle-phase chaos. But when the track hit its peak, he was the one who stitched the lap together.

Crawford looks dangerous for the rest of the weekend. FP wasn’t a tease. The rhythm is there.

Fornaroli played the long game. No wasted laps. No panic. A top three that keeps Invicta poised for the team fight.

Goethe’s speed keeps flashing. Montoya had the early spark. Beganovic keeps stepping forward. And Campos suddenly own the Sprint narrative.

Nothing here decided the weekend.
It only set the fuse for how it explodes.