Formula 2 News: Gabriel Bortoleto seals pole in Imola

Gabriel Bortoleto earned pole position in an action-packed Imola Qualifying, a session impacted by track limits violations. The Invicta Racing driver completed a lap of 1:27.056 to take top spot ahead of PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman and Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar.

With tire preparation done, the early times started to filter through, and it was Bortoleto that led the way thanks to a lap of 1:28.044 edging out Hadjar by just 0.026s.

The Invicta Racing driver then lowered the time to beat on his next flying effort, completing a 1:27.739 on this occasion. Also improving was Zane Maloney, with the Rodin Motorsport driver moving up to second, albeit 0.271s off the leading time.

After returning to the pitlane for a new set of the Pirelli Supersoft tires, the drivers returned to the track with 12 minutes left and this time it was Bearman who rocketed to the top of the timesheets.

The PREMA driver’s 1:27.111 put him on top briefly pushing his teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli down to second. Hadjar split the pair moments later as he went back up to P2.

But then came Bortoleto on his final flying lap, and the Invicta rookie set a time of 1:27.056 to snatch pole position.

Bearman and Antonelli did have their final laps provisionally deleted for exceeding track limits, although the Stewards reinstated their times, along with several others, following the conclusion of the session.

Joshua Duerksen put together a strong session to take P5 for AIX Racing ahead o Championship leader Maloney. Roman Stanek finished P7 for Trident, ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron in eighth.

MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto qualified ninth ahead of the second Hitech car of Amaury Cordeel, meaning that the Belgian driver will start from reverse grid pole in tomorrow’s Sprint.

Formula 2 Imola Qualifying Results

POS	NO.	DRIVER	TEAM	LAPS	TIME	BEHIND	GAP
1	10	G. Bortoleto	Invicta Racing	13	1:27.056	0.000s	0.000s
2	3	O. Bearman	PREMA Racing	12	1:27.111	0.055	0.055
3	20	I. Hadjar	Campos Racing	12	1:27.272	0.216	0.115
4	4	A. Antonelli	PREMA Racing	13	1:27.320	0.264	0.048
5	24	J. Dürksen	AIX Racing	12	1:27.384	0.328	0.112
6	5	Z. Maloney	Rodin Motorsport	14	1:27.428	0.372	0.044
7	23	R. Stanek	Trident	11	1:27.467	0.411	0.039
8	17	P. Aron	Hitech Pulse-Eight	12	1:27.475	0419	0.008
9	12	F. Colapinto	MP Motorsport	12	1:27.614	0558	0139
10	16	A. Cordeel	Hitech Pulse-Eight	12	1:27.663	0.607	0.049
11	14	E. Fittipaldi	Van Amersfoort Racing	13	1:27.739	0.683	0.076
12	25	T. Barnard	AIX Racing	12	1:27.774	0.718	0.035
13	11	D. Hauger	MP Motorsport	12	1:27.795	0.739	0.056
14	21	J. Martí	Campos Racing	12	1:27.802	0.746	0.007
15	22	R. Verschoor	Trident	11	1:27.886	0.830	0.084
16	6	R. Miyata	Rodin Motorsport	14	1:28.050	0.994	0.039
17	9	K. Maini	Invicta Racing	11	1:28.061	1.005	0.011
18	2	Z. O’Sullivan	ART Grand Prix	13	1:28.128	1.072	0.067
19	15	R. Villagómez	Van Amersfoort Racing	13	1:28.131	1.075	0.003
20	8	J. Correa	DAMS Lucas Oil	13	1:28.192	1.136	0.061
21	7	J. Crawford	DAMS Lucas Oil	8	1:28.333	1.277	0.141
22	1	V. Martins	ART Grand Prix	7	1:28.569	1.513	0.377