F2 News: Aron claims first F2 victory in action-packed Qatar race

Hot on the heels from signing to be a F1 Reserve Driver for Alpine in 2025, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron came out on top of a dramatic Lusail Feature Race.

Gabriel Bortoleto crossed the line in P1, a five-second time penalty for the Brazilian dropped him to third.

Aron lost the lead to Bortoleto at the line but kept his cool to stay with the Invicta Racing driver throughout the race allowing him to take his first Formula 2 victory.

Bortoleto’s penalty also benefited Isack Hadjar, who finished third on the road, but moved up to second allowing him to close the gap to just 0.5 points in the title battle heading to Yas Marina.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was a great start from Bortoleto who got ahead of pole-sitter Aron off the line, while debutant Dino Beganovic came out on top in the Turn 1 battle for third with Victor Martins.

The race settled down early on until Kush Maini had a difficult start to Lap 4, dropping from P7 to P11 in the space of a few corners.

He first lost out to his fellow Hard tire runner Oliver Bearman who got past him into Turn 1. The PREMA Racing driver was then followed through by teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, as well as Oliver Goethe and Hadjar.

Back at the front, the top two were separated by 1.2s at the start of Lap 6. They had created a gap of over three seconds to Beganovic in third, who was struggling on his Mediums.

But Beganovic’s DAMS Lucas Oil’s teammate Jak Crawford was the first of the Option tire runners to pit from sixth. The Swede followed him in a lap later as did Aron, Martins, Richard Verschoor, and Antonelli.

The timing of the VSC was crucial, as Bortoleto had committed to pit just as it was deployed, with the Brazilian deciding then to cross the pit entry line back onto the circuit.

With his car stranded, a full Safety Car was deployed, allowing Bortoleto to pit and retain the net race lead on Lap 9, but was soon given a five-second time penalty for failing to follow the Race Director’s instructions relating to crossing the line at pit entry.

He was now seventh on the road ahead of Aron while Hadjar was the big beneficiary of waiting to pit under the Safety Car, as he was now right behind his title rivals in P9.

Having not pitted yet on the alternative strategy, Bearman led Joshua Duerksen, Maini, Max Esterson, Luke Browning and Josep María Martí.

We returned to racing on Lap 13 of 32, as Duerksen challenged Bearman for the lead, although the Briton was able to keep the position.

But the Safety Car was back out after Crawford and Rafael Villagómez collided at Turn 6. The former was forced to retire with a suspension issue, while the latter was stationary on track.

The drama resumed on Lap 17, with Bearman wide at the final corner to give Duerksen the lead. The PREMA driver managed to stay within track limits, making Duerksen’s overtake before the start/finish line against the rules. The AIX driver handed the position back, but he lost out to Maini and Browning also to fall to fourth.

Behind them, Bortoleto, Aron, and Hadjar were fighting their way through the field, getting past Esterson and Martí to move up to fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively.

After the Safety Car interventions, the race was run to time, and with less than 13 minutes to go, Bearman was now over four seconds clear out in front.

Duerksen was now back up to second ahead of Maini, who pitted at the end of the lap, allowing Bortoleto to move up to third on the road, with Aron fourth and Hadjar fifth.

The Brazilian then got ahead of Duerksen after a multi-lap battle with just over five minutes left in the race, as Aron followed him through a lap later and Hadjar closed in.

With under three minutes to go, Bearman and Duerksen pitted, giving Bortoleto the lead on track with four seconds separating him and his closest title rival Hadjar in third.

As the clock hit zero and with one lap remaining, Bortoleto was 1.6s ahead of Aron but 4.5s clear of Hadjar.

Despite pushing on the last lap, the Invicta driver could not create the gap needed across the line, giving Aron the victory and Hadjar second as the Brazilian dropped to third.

Goethe pushed Hadjar to the line but finished fourth for MP with Beganovic in fifth. Christian Mansell fought his way through the field for Trident to end up in sixth ahead of Amaury Cordeel.

Van Amersfoort Racing debutant John Bennett impressed in his first Feature Race to finish in P8 while Maloney and Ritomo Miyata rounded out the points for Rodin Motorsport.

KEY QUOTE – Paul Aron, Hitech Pulse-Eight

“Finally, a first win in Formula 2. I don’t need to say it but it’s been a long time coming and I am very very happy to finally get it. There was some extra pressure because we’ve been in this position already three times, on pole from Friday and not getting the win on Sunday, so I am very very happy to finally get it. At the same time, I want to congratulate Gabriel, he did a good race, on track he won it, definitely well done to him and lastly, a big thank you to Hitech. I think I could not thank them enough on Friday, the car has been very good from the beginning of the weekend and very happy to finally leave Sunday with a smile on my face.”

2024 Qatar Feature Race Results – 30 Laps