F2: Crawford takes last-gasp pole in exciting Jeddah qualifying session

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

DAMS racer Jak Crawford took a surprise pole for the DAMS outfit, their first since the Australian GP weekend in 2023, giving the French outfit a major confidence boost heading into the Jeddah weekend.

Crawford took a shock pole for DAMS | Credit: Formula 2 via X

The American picked up his first pole of 2025, and first since his rookie F2 season in 2023, with Victor Martins and Leonardo Fornaroli hot on his heels. The top three were separated by less than one tenth of a second, in a qualifying session of fine margins.

Luke Browning took an excellent fourth for Hitech TGR, backing up the team's pace around the venue. Arvid Lindblad and Pepe Martí took fifth and seventh on the road, split by the Rodin of Bahrain feature race winner Alex Dunne.

Gabriele Minì salvaged PREMA Racing's qualifying session with a respectable eighth, while Ollie Goethe and Roman Staněk's Invicta rounding out the top ten. The latter will start from pole for Saturday's 20-lap sprint race

Martins topped the only free practice session before qualifying, ahead of Staněk's Invicta and Dino Beganovic in the Hitech TGR.

AS IT UNFOLDED

Martins remained in the hunt for pole all session | Credit: Formula 2

As the first runs unfolded, Martins continued from where he left off in free practice. The Frenchman soared to the top of the standings, setting a lap time 0.323 seconds ahead of Alex Dunne's Rodin Motorsport.

The field spread remained minimal along the session, with most of the field separated by only a second to a second-and-a-half during the first runs.

However, Arvid Lindblad would soon take his Campos to the top of the times. The Briton, taking part in his first qualifying session at Jeddah, went atop the timing ladder, with Martins and Dunne trailing after the second runs.

Elsewhere, Verschoor and Staněk found themselves in the top half of the grid, with Fornaroli too in the mix.

Once the final runs of qualifying began, Minì put himself atop the times, before being beaten by Browning's Hitech TGR, the gap only a tenth of a second. Beganovic and Goethe moved into the top four.

With just over five minutes to go, a late red flag brought track action to a standstill. John Bennett experienced a heavy crash into turn 17. Attacking the track on the final runs, the young Briton took an extra dose of kerb into the fast left-hander.

Bennett's late crash halted the final runs | Credit: Formula 2 via X

The result saw Bennett's rear tyre make contact with the outside barrier, with his VAR spinning on the exit before coming to a halt on the racing line.

The red flag affected the laps of several drivers, with Bennett among the first few to set off on his final laps. Bennett's crash left him down in 21st on the grid for both races at Jeddah.

The session resumed within a short duration, as drivers once again set off on their final attempts to secure pole. Minì was the first to try, unable to dislodge Browning at the top of the standings.

The likes of Lindblad and Martí were on quick laps too, climbing up the order, but still shy of Browning's lap.

It wasn't until the dying moments of the session when Fornaroli bettered the Hitech racer's lap, but only by six hundredths. However, Martins fought back to put his ART Grand Prix machine on pole, by a margin of over 0.07s.

Rounding out qualifying were the two DAMS cars. Crawford, down in 18th, had been setting personal best sectors. Yet, he was in for a shock, as he soared up the order, stopping the timesheets only 0.022 seconds ahead of Martins' ART.

Fornaroli's last-gasp attempt to better the American's time was to no avail, the Italian bailing out as he neared the end of his lap.

The result gave Crawford and DAMS their first pole of the 2025 F2 season, and the first for the French outfit in over two years.

Full qualifying results

1. Jak Crawford (DAMS)

2. Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix)

3. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing)

4. Luke Browning (Hitech TGR)

5. Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)

6. Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)

7. Pepe Martí (Campos Racing)

8. Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing)

9. Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport)

10. Roman Staněk (Invicta Racing)

11. Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)

12. Kush Maini (DAMS)

13. Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR)

14. Amaury Cordeel (Rodin Motorsport)

15. Sami Meguetounif (Trident)

16. Ritomo Miyata (ART Grand Prix)

17. Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)

18. Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing)

19. Max Esterson (Trident)

20. Rafael Villagómez (VAR)

21. John Bennett (VAR)

22. Cian Shields (AIX Racing)