Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited
Ollie Bearman rebounded from his tough start to the Formula 2 season by taking pole position in Jeddah.
The Prema driver, who failed to score in round one in Bahrain, went fastest on his first run at the start of qualifying with Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini the only driver to get within half a second of his time.
After a cool-down lap, the supersoft tyres proved durable enough for a second flying lap, which Dennis Hauger used to go fastest by 0.06 seconds over Paul Aron.
On the second set of tyres however it would again be a private battle for pole between Bearman and Maini. They ran slightly later on track on than most of their rivals, Bearman setting a 1m42.217s to go four tenths clear of Aron’s latest lap, with Maini then clocking a time 0.025s shy of that benchmark.
With an instance of impeding involving Bearman and Ritomo Miyata noted by race control, the former aborted his final flying lap.
Maini on the other hand looked like he might have the pace to improve, but just came up short of doing so and had to make do with second place.
Jak Crawford improved on his final attempt to take third for DAMS, while Victor Martins claimed fourth ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, who could face investigation for crossing the pit entry line earlier in the session.
Bearman’s team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was sixth in front of Hauger, Isack Hadjar and Richard Verschoor, while Aron ended up 10th after failing to improve on his last effort – but that does provisionally put him on reversed-grid pole for the sprint race.
After taking two podiums from 11th on the grid in Bahrain, Pepe Marti finished in the same position once again.
It was worse for double Bahrain winner Zane Maloney, whose Rodin team were working at the rear of the car early in the session, and he stopped out on track at the very end having improved to go 16th on his last completed lap.
Rafael Villagomez did not take part in qualifying after his crash in free practice.
Qualifying results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Gaps | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ollie Bearman | Prema | 1m42.217s | 12 | |
| 2 | Kush Maini | Virtuosi Racing | 1m42.242s | +0.025s | 11 |
| 3 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 1m42.376s | +0.159s | 12 |
| 4 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | 1m42.397s | +0.180s | 13 |
| 5 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 1m42.420s | +0.203s | 13 |
| 6 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema | 1m42.445s | +0.228s | 13 |
| 7 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 1m42.455s | +0.238s | 12 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Campos Racing | 1m42.513s | +0.296s | 12 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 1m42.585s | +0.368s | 12 |
| 10 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 1m42.638s | +0.421s | 13 |
| 11 | Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | 1m42.668s | +0.451s | 12 |
| 12 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 1m32.672s | +0.455s | 13 |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 1m42.861s | +0.644s | 12 |
| 14 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART Grand Prix | 1m42.886s | +0.669s | 13 |
| 15 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Virtuosi Racing | 1m42.942s | +0.725s | 13 |
| 16 | Zane Maloney | Rodin Motorsport | 1m43.040s | +0.823s | 11 |
| 17 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 1m43.118s | +0.901s | 12 |
| 18 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | 1m43.145s | +0.928s | 11 |
| 19 | Joshua Duerksen | PHM Racing | 1m43.544s | +1.327s | 12 |
| 20 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin Motorsport | 1m43.777s | +1.560s | 12 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 1m43.897s | +1.680s | 13 |
| 22 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing | no time | 0 |