Victor Martins took pole for the Formula Renault Eurocup title decider at Yas Marina, beating championship leader Oscar Piastri once again.

MP Motorsport’s Martins also beat Piastri to pole for the first race of the weekend, but ending being beaten by the Australian in the race. His race two pole is his ninth of the season.

Martins was the first driver to lap in the 2m08s, doing so midway through the on-track action in the session, but spent less than two minutes on top before R-ace GP’s Oscar Piastri and MP team-mate Lorenzo Colombo bettered him.

Those positions remained the same until the final minute of qualifying, when Martins reclaimed first place. Piastri couldn’t respond, and Martins even lowered the benchmark on his final lap.

Going a surprise third fastest in the closing moments was MP’s guest driver Matteo Nannini, who is the reigning Formula 4 United Arab Emirates champion and has won multiple times at the circuit.

Colombo and R-ace GP’s Alexander Smolyar completed the top five, with Smolyar doing so despite a few messy moments in sector one and a late start to his running.

His rookie champion team-mate Caio Collet was sixth fastest, ahead of Patrik Pasma (Arden), Kush Maini (M2 Competition), Frank Bird (Arden) and Amaury Cordeel (MP).

Qualifying results