Paul Aron takes maiden F2 pole with a stunning lap

Formula 2 championship leader Paul Aron took his maiden pole position in the series, with a sensational lap time in the Friday qualifying at Barcelona.

Aron put together a brilliant lap time that by a very fine margin got him pole position. He managed to beat Jak Crawford by two thousandths of a second and Franco Colapinto by six thousandths of a second. The top three were separated by 0.006!

The top five were separated by just over a tenth with Gabriel Bortoleto fourth and Andrea Kimi Antonelli fifth.

It was an incredibly tight qualifying, with championship challenger Isack Hadjar 11th overall.

How Formula 2 qualifying unfolded in Spain

The qualifying session for Formula 2 would be the second session for the series on Friday after the morning's practice session that was topped by championship leader and Hitech's Estonian rookie Paul Aron. 

Round six in Spain would be the start of a triple header and this would be an important three weeks of the championship.

Qualifying began as the green light was on at the end of the pit lane and the session was underway in a quest for pole position around the Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya.

Aron would set the quickest time in the very early stages with a 1:23.385 ahead of Dennis Hauger and Franco Colapinto who were the top three. However, it wouldn't be long before there was a stoppage due to a red flag.

The red flag was for the AIX Racing car of Taylor Barnard who went into the barriers on the exit of turn 9 in a speedy shunt. Thankfully he was okay and climbed out the car. However, the same could not be said for his car and he was out of qualifying.

A short delay while the car was cleared and the session would be green flagged within five minutes.

On the lap times. Isack Hadjar of Campos was flying in the first two sectors and was purple in both. He jumps to the top of the times with a 1:25.205. Provisional pole for the Frenchman, who came so remarkably close to three feature race wins in a row. However, Hadjar in a great position in Spain.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli with a strong lap goes second quickest just 0.141s off the pace as Zane Maloney went fourth fastest. The boy from Barbados was 0.382 off the lap from Isack Hadjar.

Most drivers then visited the pit lane for a fresh set of tyres and with eight minutes remaining the field began to head out in an attempt to put their best laps on the board and to take pole position. 

As the drivers headed out, there was an incident in the it lane between provisional pole man Hadjar and Enzo Fittipaldi of Van Amersfoort. Hadjar pulled out on Fittipaldi, leaving the Brazilian far from impressed. It would be investigated no further.

On the laps then and Paul Aron was purple in the middle sector but flying behind was Ritomo Miyata. Miyata went purple in the firts sector.

Aron set a beauty of a lap time to take a provisional pole with a 1:24.766. The championship leader in a stunning lap time with a 1:24.766, to put himself 0.439s clear of Hadjar.

Speaking of Hadjar he could not improve! He was going to fall down the order massively!

Miyata to the line could not jump Aron and missed out, despite the purple first sector he put together. In other news Franco Colapinto was magnificently quick and he went to take second place and was unbelievably close to the pole position - six thousandths off Aron's time.

Remarkably for Colapinto, he would not stay there as Jak Crawford jumped to second to send Colapinto down to third. A stunning lap from Crawford who missed out on pole by two thousandths of a second. Incredibly unfortunate for Crawford of DAMS but it was so tight up at the top.

No one could beat Aron's time though! He was on pole position as no more laps were completed. He was on pole by an extremely narrow margin with six thousandths separating the top three. Jak Crawford was second ahead of Franco Colapinto as the top three.

The top five would be separated by narrowly over one tenth of a second. Gabriel Borotleto was fourth for Invicta Racing and Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth for Prema, while his teammate was 15th.

Miyata ended sixth despite such an impressive time. He was ahead of Joshua Durksen was seventh and Juan Manuel Correa in the other DAMS was eighth.

Victor Martins ninth and Kush Maini ends 10th and will start on reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint race.

Aron amazing once again

Another fantastic performance from Paul Aron and his lap time was simply brilliant to take pole position in such a tight and high-pressured qualifying session.

He has really earned his maiden pole in FIA Formula 2.

Aron will start from pole position on Sunday's feature race, with Jak Crawford joining him on the front row.

It will be Invicta's Kush Maini who starts from reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint, which comes next in this Formula 2 weekend.

2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 6 - Spain qualifying provisional result

1. Paul Aron (Estonia, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
2. Jak Crawford (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
3. Franco Colapinto (Argentina, MP Motorsport)
4. Gabriel Bortoleto (Brazil, Invicta Racing)
5. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italy, Prema Racing)
6. Ritomo Miyata (Japan, Rodin Motorsport)
7. Joshua Durksen (Paraguay, AIX Racing)
8. Juan Manuel Correa (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
9. Victor Martins (France, Invicta Racing)
10. Kush Maini (India, Invicta Racing)
11. Isack Hadjar (France, Campos Racing)
12. Zak O'Sullivan (Great Britain, ART Grand Prix)
13. Dennis Hauger (Norway, MP Motorsport)
14. Josep Maria Marti (Spain, Campos Racing)
15. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
16. Enzo Fittipaldi (Brazil, Van Amersfoort Racing)
17. Zane Maloney (Barbados, Rodin Motorsport)
18. Amaury Cordeel (Belgium, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
19. Richard Verschoor (Netherlands, Trident)
20. Rafael Villagomez (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
21. Roman Stanek (Czech Republic, Trident)
22. Taylor Barnard (Great Britain, AIX Racing)

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 journal