Hitech’s Paul Aron took his second successive top spot in Formula 2 after setting the fastest time on Friday afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps.
The Estonian, second in the F2 Drivers’ standings, grabbed pole with a time of 1:56.959s, with Gabriel Bortoleto second. Title-leader Isack Hadjar was third, followed by Jake Crawford and Kimi Antonelli, with Zane Maloney completing row three.
Franco Colapinto was seventh with Richard Verschoor eighth. Dennis Hauger was ninth with Zak O’Sullivan popping-up late to break into the top ten, setting himself up for pole in tomorrow’s sprint race.
The session was red-flagged in the first few moments after Victor Martins’ ART slowed to a halt at T16, the young Frenchman also noted by the stewards for crossing the circuit before all cars had safely returned to the pits.
Qualifying resumed with exactly 24 minutes left on the clock, and Aron was the first to set a fast time with a 1:57.905, but Hadjar quickly displaced him with a time a tenth of a second faster. Bortoleto popped-up into third place, just a couple of hundredths short of Aron’s time, the title-chaser’s second run being less successful and opting to box, with Kush Maini bringing himself into contention in fifth spot.
With just under ten minutes to go, cars re-emerged for a second crack at setting a good lap-time, with Hauger, Crawford and Aron all trading P1 within a matter of seconds, with Hadjar unable to claim the place back, having to contend for third place. Bortoleti would go into P2, a tenth off of Aron’s 1:56.959.
Hauger would throw his hands up in the air upon crossing the line, complaining on his team radio that the car went into safety mode during the lap, hindering his progress.
All bar Taylor Barnard and Roman Stanek were able to cross the line in-time for one more run, with Bortoleto bailing on the final lap, knowing he would be unable to do better after a poor first sector. Zak O’Sullivan was blistering on this run, bringing himself into the top 10, but nobody could defeat Aron, with the Hitech man still searching for his first win of the season.
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