Paul Aron scores first F2 pole in ultra-close Barcelona qualifying

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Formula 2 points leader Paul Aron claimed his first pole position in the series in a remarkably close qualifying session at Barcelona, where just 0.006 seconds covered the top three.

Already the pacesetter in practice, Aron went straight to the top of the times at the start of qualifying before Taylor Barnard brought out the red flags when he got a snap of oversteer and crashed at Turn 9.

At that point Aron was one of only 11 drivers to have set a time, who then remained in the pits while the rest of the field put down their first flying laps.

Isack Hadjar took top spot away from Aron at the mid-way point, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli slotting into second place while Zane Maloney moved up to fourth.

On the final runs on the second set of tyres, Aron went fastest once more with three minutes to go, recording a 1m24.766s.

Franco Colapinto got within 0.006 seconds of Aron’s time before Jak Crawford got even closer, the DAMS driver missing out on pole by just 0.002s.

Gabriel Bortoleto was another late improver to take fourth, 0.055s from pole, while Antonelli took fifth with his final lap, which was just a tenth off the pace.

Ritomo Miyata had his best qualifying showing since the opening round in Bahrain, briefly claiming second in the final minutes and ending up sixth overall.

Joshua Duerksen took seventh for AIX Racing ahead of Juan Manuel Correa, Victor Martins and Kush Maini, who will start the sprint race from reversed-grid pole.

Hadjar fell to 11th after failing to improve upon his earlier time, and let out a typical cry of frustration over the radio when informed he had missed out on being inside the top 10.

Aron’s three closest championship rivals all qualified outside the top 10, with Hadjar being followed by Dennis Hauger in 13th and Maloney in 17th. Ollie Bearman couldn’t match team-mate Antonelli’s pace on either run and ended up 15th.

Qualifying results