Paul Aron on pole for the first ever Formula 2 race in Qatar!

Photo credits: Formula 2

Qualifying summary

Oliver Bearman was the first driver to set a time, followed by Victor Martins. Paul Aron shortly followed and set a time of 1:37:619 which was over 4 tenths clear of Bearman. 

The drivers continued to improve their times and the clock ticked, but it was Gabriel Bortoleto who went fastest with a 1:36:914. 

However, Aron quickly responded with a lap time of 1:36:614, with Martins in second and Bearman in third. 

The cooler temperatures were cooperating well with the drivers and was allowing them to set their third flying laps of the session. This allowed Bortoleto to go fastest by 0.028s. 

Nine minutes remained of the session and the drivers made their way onto the track on brand new sets of medium tyres. 

Aron went back to the top, setting a time of 1:36:088. Bortoleto shortly followed but was unable to beat the time and remained in second place. 

The drivers began improving their times once again which saw Richard Verschoor go top with his teammate Oliver Goethe in third. Aron soon shot back up to the top with a time of 1:35:427. 

Bortoleto was able to improve his time, but only managed to go second with a gap of 0.023s separating the two drivers. 

One minute remained of the session and the drivers were now dedicated to setting the best possible lap that they could. Aron improved his lap, setting a 1:35:115 while Bortoleto remained in second and Martins in third. An outstanding lap from Dino Beganovic saw him go fourth. 

Qualifying results

1) Paul Aron / 1:35:115
2) Gabriel Bortoleto / + 0.3
3) Victor Martins / + 0.4
4) Dino Beganovic / + 0.6
5) Richard Verschoor / + 0.7
6) Jak Crawford / + 0.9
7) Kush Maini / + 0.9 
8) Oliver Goethe / + 1.0
9) Isack Hadjar / + 1.0
10) Oliver Bearman / + 1.0
11) Kimi Antonelli / + 1.3
12) Pepe Marti / + 1.3
13) Max Esterson / + 1.6
14) Luke Browning / + 1.6
15) Ritomo Miyata / + 1.6
16) Joshua Durksen / + 1.7
17) Zane Maloney / + 1.7
18) Amaury Cordeel / + 1.9
19) John Bennett / + 2.1
20) Christian Mansell / + 2.2
21) Rafael Villagomez / + 2.9
22) Cian Shields / + 3.2

Written by Kelsie Jayes