Perfect start to the season for Gabriel Bortoleto in Formula 2. In his debut in the category, the Invicta Racing driver achieved pole position for a Feature race in Thursday’s qualifying for the Sakhir round (Bahrain).
At the beginning, Kush Maini set the pace ahead of Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport). Later, Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) reached the top of the time table, with his teammate Josep María Martí placing second at the same time. They were separated by only 21 milliseconds.
At that stage, several drivers were in the pits preparing for their final attacks on the clock. Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) returned to the track to take the lead, but was soon surpassed by Maini and his teammate Gabriel Bortoletto. Hadjar improved to third place.
Despite the attempts of some drivers, no one else beat the top qualifiers until the end. However, after qualifying, Maini was disqualified for a technical irregularity in his car. This promoted Bortoleto to pole position, with the Brazilian being 23 milliseconds faster than Hadjar. Maloney finished third, 0.067 seconds behind.
In a top six with great balance, Hauger was fourth, Ritomo Miyata (Rodin Motorsport) finished fifth, and Zak O’Sullivan (ART Grand Prix) finished sixth. This group of drivers was separated by only 99 milliseconds. Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) finished tenth, securing the pole position on the partially inverted grid for the Sprint race.
Results:
