F2: Aron dominates Lusail Qualifying ahead of Bortoleto

Paul Aron would not be denied in Qatar as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver put in a supreme lap to earn pole position for the Formula 2 Feature Race.
The Estonian driver was quickest of all earlier in the day during Practice and carried that speed into Qualifying under the floodlights, ending up comfortably fastest with a 1m 35.115s lap.
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His opening effort put him top of the pile ahead of Championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who slotted into second – a theme that repeated for the remainder of the session.
With every lap, the duo found more time as the track continued to evolve, but nobody could match the pace of Aron, who put himself provisionally fastest with each attempt.
Bortoleto remained in the hunt, consistently Aron’s closest contender for Pole but the Brazilian had to settle for a front row spot, 0.3s down on the best time.
Victor Martins was also another figure near the top from the green light, and the ART Grand Prix driver finished up third quickest a further tenth behind.
Stepping up from Formula 3 and making his F2 debut this weekend, Dino Beganovic put a late lap in to go fourth overall, ahead of Richard Verschoor who rounded out the top five in the session.
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Title contender Isack Hadjar wound up in ninth and will start Saturday’s Sprint Race from the front row, behind Oliver Bearman who finished Qualifying in 10th, securing reverse grid pole in the process.
For a full report on the F2 Qualifying session in Lusail, visit the official website here.