Goethe loses F2 Qatar pole, receives grid drop for sprint and feature races

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

F2 pole-sitter Ollie Goethe has received a three-place grid drop for this weekend's races, after being found guilty for impeding Rodin Motorsport's Martinius Stenshorne during qualifying for the Qatar F2 weekend on Friday.

Credit: James Sutton

The MP Motorsport driver came through right at the death to take pole from Invicta Racing and Leonardo Fornaroli, who had dominated much of the 30-minute session up until then. Goethe receives a three-place drop that takes him off pole position for the Qatar Feature Race on Sunday, while he will also not start the Saturday Sprint from the top ten either.

The German driver had impeded Stenshorne at Turn 6 during the 30-minute qualifying session, with the stewards having deemed Goethe responsible for the same during an investigation session conducted post qualifying.

The result moves Goethe down to fourth in the order, and promotes championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli to pole for the Feature Race, and another step closer towards his championship aspirations.

For the sprint race, though, the penalty moves Goethe down to 13th on the road, with Dino Beganovic, Stenshorne and John Bennett move up a spot each.

For the Feature Race, Fornaroli moves up to pole, while Victor Martins and Roman Staněk are elevated to second and third, respectively.

Revised grid order - Sprint Race

1. Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport)

2. Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing)

3. Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)

4. Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)

5. Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)

6. Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)

7. Roman Staněk (Invicta Racing)

8. Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix)

9. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing)

10. Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR)

11. Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)

12. John Bennett (Van Amersfoort Racing)

13. Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)*

14. Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing)

15. Jak Crawford (DAMS)

16. Ritomo Miyata (ART Grand Prix)

17. Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)

18. Luke Browning (Hitech TGR)

19. Cian Shields (AIX Racing)

20. Kush Maini (DAMS)

21. James Wharton (Trident)

22. Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)

Revised grid order - Feature Race

1. Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing)

2. Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix)

3. Roman Staněk (Invicta Racing)

4. Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)*

5. Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)

6. Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)

7. Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing)

8. Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)

9. Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing)

10. Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport)

11. Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR)

12. Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)

13. John Bennett (Van Amersfoort Racing)

14. Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing)

15. Jak Crawford (DAMS)

16. Ritomo Miyata (ART Grand Prix)

17. Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)

18. Luke Browning (Hitech TGR)

19. Cian Shields (AIX Racing)

20. Kush Maini (DAMS)

21. James Wharton (Trident)

22. Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)