Championship contender Paul Aron secured his third feature race pole of the season and second pole in two weeks at Spa-Francorchamps.
Aron beat McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto to the top spot on Sunday’s grid by a tenth of a second, with Isack Hadjar third.However, Hadjar will be investigated after the session for allegedly impeding Ritomo Miyata at Eau Rouge.
The championship leader sat on provisional pole position after the early runs, a tenth of a second ahead of his closest rival Aron. The Hitech driver improved to a 1’56.959 to go to the top of the times, while Hadjar also improved but was demoted to third by Bortoleto.
Bortoleto improved in the first sector on his final lap, but an error at exit of Bruxelles caused him to abandon the lap and his chance at pole. A yellow flag in the opening sector limited the ability of many drivers to improve on the final lap, meaning Aron secured pole despite being in the pit lane in the closing minutes.
Bortoleto secured second, with Hadjar in third and Jak Crawford in fourth ahead of Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Zane Maloney was sixth, ahead of Williams junior Franco Colapinto, Richard Verschoor, Dennis Hauger and Zak O’Sullivan securing reverse grid pole for the sprint race in tenth.
However, the stewards will investigate both Hadjar and Antonelli for separate incidents of impeding which occurred seconds apart at the same section of track. Miyata appeared to catch Hadjar at Raidillon, earning the Red Bull junior a trip to the stewards, with Antonelli appearing to get in Maloney’s way moments later in the same section.
Alpine junior Victor Martins failed to set a time after a running off track at the fast Piff-Paff chicane and being unable to restart, bringing out a red flag.
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Formula 2 Belgian qualifying results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 | Paul Aron | Hitech |
| 2 | 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta |
| 3 | 20 | Isack Hadjar | Campos |
| 4 | 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS |
| 5 | 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema |
| 6 | 5 | Zane Maloney | Rodin |
| 7 | 12 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport |
| 8 | 22 | Richard Verschoor | Trident |
| 9 | 11 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| 10 | 2 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART |
| 11 | 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech |
| 12 | 9 | Kush Maini | Invicta |
| 13 | 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort |
| 14 | 8 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS |
| 15 | 3 | Ollie Bearman | Prema |
| 16 | 6 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin |
| 17 | 21 | Josep Maria Marti | Campos |
| 18 | 15 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort |
| 19 | 25 | Taylor Barnard | AIX |
| 20 | 24 | Joshua Duerksen | AIX |
| 21 | 23 | Roman Stanek | Trident |
| 22 | 1 | Victor Martins | ART |
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Nick T.
27th July 2024, 2:45
Aaron is a driver who should be getting an F1 drive. He definitely has a better track record than a number of juniors either very likely to be given a seat or being talked about for a seat.