Staněk “wasn’t expecting pole when he woke up” in Hungary, as he aims for more F2 success
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Written by Vyas Ponnuri
Roman Staněk took his maiden pole position in F2 on Friday's 30-minute qualifying session in Hungary, ahead of teammate Leonardo Fornaroli. While he topped most of the running, the Czech racer certainly wasn't expecting to be at the head of the pack after 30 minutes of flying laps.
The Czech Republic has seen racing drivers take part in various disciplines, but only a handful of them have made it up the higher echelons in single-seater racing. As such, it is no surprise to see the fan support for their latest F2 star, Roman Staněk, along his single-seater journey.
The Hungaroring is only a five-hour journey from Prague, the capital city of the Czech Republic, with the lower ticket prices also making it feasible for several passionate fans to drive down to watch one of their own folks race along the Road to F1.
The passionate fan support is certainly not lost in Staněk, who aims to stand on the top step of the podium for the first time and hear the Czech national anthem play on an F2 podium. While one driver has raced in GP2 in the past, Staněk is the first driver from his country to race in F2’s modern era.
“It's great to have a base of fans back home,” Staněk said, speaking to DIVEBOMB and other select media after F2 qualifying.
“To be honest, I don't look at it (social media posts) too much because sometimes in the comment section, you can find some bad stuff, which can impact your mental health.
“In general, also here in Budapest, I'm very happy and proud that I took pole position here, and I saw already today, on Friday, a lot of Czech Republic flags, so I'm just going to do my best on Sunday to make them happy, and to try to make them hear finally the Czech anthem,” the Invicta racer said, looking to make his passionate fans proud after the Feature Race.
Staněk emerged on top after running a dominant pace all qualifying session, taking his maiden pole position of 2025 by setting a 1:28.779, which sat 0.150 seconds ahead of teammate Leonardo Fornaroli, and almost two tenths clear of Jak Crawford in third.
The Invicta racer gained a significant chunk of lap time from the first sector as well as the final sector, setting purple sectors as he lit up the timing charts. Despite a slower middle sector, he was still able to gain enough time to go into the 1:28s, a time several drivers failed to match within a quarter of a second.
When asked about his lap, Staněk, who had woken up with a few health issues earlier on Friday, relished his maiden F2 pole, mentioning how he didn’t expect to end up atop the standings.
“It feels good, first pole in F2, it took me three years. I wasn't expecting it after waking up this morning because I had some health issues, but yeah, very happy for the team that we managed to take P1 and P2, so yeah, good,” Staněk mentioned.
With the Hungaroring a tricky track to overtake around, and tyre management critical on Sunday, it leaves Staněk in a prime position to take his second consecutive F2 Feature Race victory. With the added element of rain lurking in the background, the odds remain firmly in the Czech racer’s favour to convert his pole into victory.
Yet, the Invicta racer prefers to take it race by race and see how his weekend unfolds, without rushing to any immediate conclusions.
“Yeah, let's see first tomorrow in the race how the conditions will be,” Staněk said. “It might also rain on Sunday. The rain was not too bad in Spa (Belgium), and for sure it's a big luxury because you don't get the spray, so P1 is a good place to start in case it rains. But yeah, we'll just focus race by race and do my best as always, as I did today and I did in Spa,” Staněk mentioned.
Pole for the Hungarian round marked Staněk’s fifth top-six start in a row, in what has been a special run of form for the newest pole-sitter. When asked if he had changed anything to tailor his approach to this season, Staněk mentioned it was just a result of the hard work he had been putting in behind the scenes.
“I don't think there's been something that I've changed,” Staněk said. “Since the beginning of the season, you try to work as hard as you can, especially extracting the best in every session you can, working with the team. And sometimes it just doesn't go your way, but you cannot give up.
“You just have to keep going, because especially the F2 season is very long. You know, we have 14 rounds, which is great. But yeah, I find myself very good with the team, and I think that's why we are able to perform at the highest level of Formula 2.
Invicta Racing have also been on a sweeping run of form, having won three of the last four races in the lead up to the Hungarian weekend. When asked by DIVEBOMB about what the team did differently, Staněk mentioned it was down to a stable team working together for a long period of time, and the successful formula the team had built over time.
“From the past, Invicta, although they had a different name but it's always the same people for the 10 years or the last 10 years,” the 21-year-old told DIVEBOMB.
“And I think that's one of the reasons why it makes them so strong, because they actually never change the people, and the people work between each other very well. So that's a very good point. And they've been successful in the last, actually throughout the whole F2 (championship), since it's been existing.
“So no, I'm super happy that I can be with them, because obviously they are the best. They won the championship last year. And also, my engineer is a great teacher in a way that he explains to me how to do stuff if there is some issue, because you are not always driving at your perfect level.
“So he always tried to show me and explain to me what's better. So yeah, I'm very happy I can be with them,” Staněk concluded.
One of the biggest reasons for Invicta Racing’s success in 2025 has been teammate Fornaroli. The Italian, who has taken his first race victories since his Italian F4 season back in 2021, has been relishing the speedy Invicta machine on his way to the championship lead.
Both Fornaroli and Staněk have been teammates earlier in their careers, with both drivers racing for Trident during their junior careers, before moving over to Invicta Racing, another team affiliated with Trident on the grid.
The duo’s collaboration as teammates has helped Invicta Racing prepare and ensure they are ready for the F2 season. When asked about how their relationship as teammates was getting along, Staněk spoke with major praise for Fornaroli.
“Since the beginning of the season, we have been working really well. I’ve known Leo a long time from Trident,” Staněk said.
“Obviously, he has won the F3 Championship, I have learnt a lot from him, and I think he has learnt a lot from me. We have been working very hard and very well on the simulator outside of the races and during the race weekend as well,” Staněk continued.
“We get along very well with each other.
“When we were close to each other on the track, or we raced each other, we've been very respectful to each other. So yeah, I'm pleased that he's my teammate,” Staněk concluded, speaking glowing words of his championship-winning teammate.
The Czech racer will now have to go through the motions of a 28-lap sprint race on Saturday, starting from 10th for the race, while Campos racer Pepe Martí will lead the field away from the five red lights on Saturday.
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