Aron beats Bortoleto to Losail pole as Beganovic bags fourth on his debut

Formula 2

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Paul Aron beat Gabriel Bortoleto to pole position for the Formula 2 feature race by three tenths of a second at the Losail International Circuit.

The Hitech driver had already secured pole by less than a tenth of a second but improved on his final lap at the chequered flag to consolidate his fourth feature race pole of the season.

Sauber-bound Bortoleto will start alongside him on the front row for Sunday’s feature race, with Victor Martins starting from third.

No fewer than four drivers are making their F2 debuts in Qatar this weekend. Ferrari junior driver Dino Beganovic made the best first impression by far with fourth on the grid. Having taken over Juan Manuel Correa’s seat at DAMS, Beganovic could hardly believe his engineer when told on his radio he will start his first feature race from the second row.

Richard Verschoor qualified fifth on his return to MP Motorsport, ahead of Jak Crawford, Kush Maini and Oliver Goethe. Championship contender Isack Hadjar could only manage ninth, while Oliver Bearman beat Prema team mate and 2025 Formula 1 rival Andrea Kimi Antonelli to a place in the top ten.

Of the other drivers making their debuts, Max Esterson was the next best performer in 13th ahead of John Bennett in 19th. Cian Shields was slowest in 22nd position.

Bearman will start on reverse-grid pole for Saturday’s sprint race, with Hadjar starting alongside him.

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Formula 2 Qatar qualifying results

Position Car Driver Team
1 17 Paul Aron Hitech
2 10 Gabriel Bortoleto Invicta
3 1 Victor Martins ART
4 8 Dino Beganovic DAMS
5 11 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport
6 7 Jak Crawford DAMS
7 9 Kush Maini Invicta
8 12 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport
9 20 Isack Hadjar Campos
10 3 Oliver Bearman Prema
11 4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Prema
12 21 Pepe Martí Campos
13 22 Max Esterson Trident
14 2 Luke Browning ART
15 6 Ritomo Miyata Rodin
16 24 Joshua Duerksen AIX
17 5 Zane Maloney Rodin
18 16 Amaury Cordeel Hitech
19 14 John Bennett Van Amersfoort
20 23 Christian Mansell Trident
21 15 Rafael Villagómez Van Amersfoort
22 25 Cian Shields AIX

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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1 comments on “Aron beats Bortoleto to Losail pole as Beganovic bags fourth on his debut”

  1. Well done by Dino, must be a real confidence boost to outqualify those names on the first try!

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