Aron profits from Bortoleto penalty to score maiden F2 win in Qatar

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Hitech GP’s Paul Aron took his first victory in Formula 2’s Qatar feature race after a time penalty denied points leader Gabriel Bortoleto.

Invicta Racing’s Bortoleto was demoted to third by his penalty behind chief rival Isack Hadjar, resulting in his championship advantage being reduced to just half a point heading into next weekend’s Yas Marina finale.

Lining up from pole, Aron lost out to Bortoleto at the start, but held on to second after a four-wide battle into turn one with Dino Beganovic, Victor Martins and Richard Verschoor.

The front two pulled clear of Beganovic during the early exchanges, with Aron one of several drivers to pit at the end of lap seven. Drama unfolded when MP Motorsport’s Verschoor was released into the path of Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who retired with broken steering moments after leaving the pitlane.

A virtual safety car period followed, but not before Bortoleto headed for the pitlane at the end of the next lap. Instructed by his team to stay out, Bortoleto swerved back onto the circuit but it would soon incur him a five-second penalty. The safety was the deployed, and Bortoleto emerged ahead of Aron and Hadjar in seventh after pitting on the next lap. Meanwhile, Prema’s Ollie Bearman was one of six drivers still to make their mandatory tyre change and took over the race lead.

The race resumed at the halfway stage, but the safety car returned to track one lap later. Bortoleto ran off circuit while trying to pass Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti for sixth but avoided losing any places. DAMS driver Jak Crawford then made contact with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez as he tried to make up ground, with the latter to spinning to a halt on track and Crawford subsequently retiring in the pitlane with suspension damage.

There was more chaos as the cars approached the next restart. Bearman ran wide at the final corner and lost the lead to AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen, who then tried to hand the place back to Bearman on the next lap but was shuffled to fourth. Bortoleto soon picked off the still-to-pit Marti and Max Esterson, and the latter was soon spun around by Martins who suffered race-ending suspension damage.

Chased by Aron and Hadjar, Bortoleto eventually worked his way up to second before reclaiming the lead once Bearman pitted late on. Bortoleto led Aron by 1.4s, and Hadjar 3.7s, heading onto the final lap. He pushed hard to try and build a 5s gap to Hadjar, who was under pressure from MP’s Oliver Goethe for third, but his advantage was on 4.6s at the chequered flag and he was relegated to third. Aron, meanwhile, took victory by 2.7s.

Goethe just missed out on his first F2 podium, with Beganovic fifth ahead Trident’s Christian Mansell and Hitech’s Amuary Cordeel. VAR’s John Bennett ended his first F2 weekend in the points in eight ahead Rodin Motorsport duo Zane Maloney and Ritomo Miyata.

Race results (30 laps)