Bortoleto secures Imola pole as Bearman and Antonelli fall foul of track limits

McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto took pole position for the Formula 2 feature race at Imola after several drivers lost best times for track limits infringements.

Prema drivers Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli both dropped from the top five to well outside the top ten as they were among many drivers who had times deleted after the chequered flag.

Earlier on in the session, Alpine junior Gabriel Bortoleto had been quickest of all after the initial runs with a 1’27.739, two tenths of a second faster than Zane Maloney’s Rodin. Red Bull prospect Isack Hadjar sat in third place with Joshua Duerksen fourth for AIX.

Red Bull junior Pepe Marti survived a spin at the Tamburello chicane on his first push lap, skidding across the grass and narrowly avoiding the barrier. Williams junior Franco Colapinto did reach the barriers after running off at Acque Minerali, but scrubbed off enough speed to avoid damage and escaped from the gravel trap without the need for a red flag.

Heading out on track for the second runs of the session, Mercedes junior Antonelli jumped into provisional pole position with a 1’27.320. He was then beaten by Hadjar and Prema team mate Bearman, who went 0.161s faster than the Campos driver to take the top spot.

Bortoleto reclaimed provision pole with two minutes remaining, going a few hundredths of a second quicker than the Ferrari junior, who had returned to the pit lane and was unable to attempt another lap. With no major improvements at the chequered flag, Borteloto clinched pole position – his second for a feature race this year.

Bearman crossed the line in second place, however he and team mate Antonelli were among several drivers who had their best times deleted for exceeding track limits well after the chequered flag had flown. That dropped Bearman down to 16th, with Antonelli in 18th.

Hadjar was therefore promoted to the front row of the grid for the feature race alongside pole winner Bortoleto. Joshua Duerksen will start third on Sunday, with championship leader Maloney in fourth and Roman Stanek in fifth.

Enzo Fittipaldi took sixth on the grid, ahead of Dennis Hauger in seventh. Marti took eighth despite his early spin, with Richard Verschoor and Colapinto completing the top ten.

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Formula 2 Emilia-Romagna qualifying results

Position	Car	Driver	Team
1	10	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta
2	20	Isack Hadjar	Campos
3	24	Joshua Duerksen	AIX
4	5	Zane Maloney	Rodin
5	23	Roman Stanek	Trident
6	14	Enzo Fittipaldi	Van Amersfoort
7	11	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport
8	21	Josep Maria Marti	Campos
9	22	Richard Verschoor	Trident
10	12	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport
11	17	Paul Aron	Hitech
12	6	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin
13	9	Kush Maini	Invicta
14	2	Zak O’Sullivan	ART
15	25	Taylor Barnard	AIX
16	3	Ollie Bearman	Prema
17	16	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech
18	4	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Prema
19	1	Victor Martins	ART
20	15	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort
21	8	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS
22	7	Jak Crawford	DAMS

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Formula 2

• Bortoleto clinches F2 title as Hadjar stalls and Duerksen wins finale
• Aron hit with double penalty for team’s illegal DRS modification, Hadjar gains a point
• Marti wins sprint race as Bortoleto extends points lead ahead of finale
• Martins beats title rivals Bortoleto, Aron and Hadjar to Yas Marina pole
• Bortoleto’s lead down to half a point as penalty hands win to Aron in Losail

Browse all Formula 2 articles