F2: Dennis Hauger wins qualifying in Spielberg

In the Austrian phase of the season, the battle for leadership in the individual championship of the youth series looked like this: Paul Aron, a Hitech driver, takes first place, only 9 points ahead of Isaac Hajjar of Campos Racing.

With such a small advantage, the picture can change in just one race, so it is especially important for title contenders to fight for every prize point, and in Formula 2 two points are awarded for pole position. Let’s say, looking ahead, that this bonus did not go to them.

You can also add that Zane Maloney, a racer from the island of Barbados who competes for the British team Rodin Motorsport, takes 3rd place and is 25 points behind Aron, which is not that much either. By the way, he was the one who took the lead in the personal classification at the beginning of the season, so he certainly has not given up hope of improving his position in the tournament and regaining it.

At the very beginning of qualifying, the AIX Racing team car stopped in the middle of the pit lane, and many had to go around the stalled Dallara of Taylor Barnard, after which the mechanics rolled him back to the pits. But after some time he was able to get back on the road.

Paul Aron almost immediately claimed pole position with a lap of 1:16.039, but it was clear this was just the beginning. Isaac Hajjar improved his time by a few tenths and became the first to pass 1 minute and 16 seconds.

On his first attempt, Jack Crawford, the winner of the previous race in Barcelona, ​​failed to keep the car on the track – he overran a little at Turn 9, crossed the gravel trap, but returned to the track, albeit with small stones on it.

Then a technical surprise occurred: Hadjar, who at that time was still on the first line of the qualifying protocol, returned to the pit lane in a car with a smoking engine. It became clear that the session was over for the Frenchman.

As qualifying approached the equator, Aron took second result, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger moved up to third, followed by Invicta Racing’s Gabriele Bortoleto and Victor Martin completed the top five. The French ART racer and Alpine reserve driver can be considered one of the main losers of the season – he is constantly pursued by a number of difficulties. The sprint victory on the stage in Spain remains his most notable, but at the same time his only achievement this year, because for some reason he has already withdrawn from the race four times and is still in a distant 14th place in the personal classification, despite the fact that no one doubts his speed.

Everyone returned to the pit lane, got new tires, and the battle for pole resumed with 10 minutes left in qualifying.

In the final attempt, many riders rode with a noticeable improvement of their results in the first half of the session. In particular, Bortoleto displaced Aron from second place, but the Paraguayan Joshua Duerksen of the AIX Racing team then climbed to second place.

But Paul Aron ruined his decisive attempt by clearly overdoing it and flying off the track in turn 6! His car spun 360 degrees, damaging the tires, after which the Estonian slowly returned to the pits. At that moment he was in fifth place.

The surprises continued: Dennis Hauger took pole with a minimal lead, although the Norwegian MP Motorsport driver made a mistake at the end of the last fast lap and almost flew off the track, but was still able to keep the car under control. This is his second pole position this season. His result is 1:15.495.

And only 0.008 seconds were lost to him by Durksen, a Formula 2 rookie, for whom the second result is the best qualifying performance; The third time was shown by Gabriele Bortoleto, the fourth time remained for Franco Colapinto and only from the third starting row will Paul Aron start the race on Sunday. However, he knows how to move forward, and mistakes like today are not typical for him.

Kush Maini, who posted the 10th result today, will start from pole in tomorrow’s sprint. Prema Racing drivers Oliver Berman and Kimi Antonelli, who have the most realistic chances of going to Formula 1 next year, failed to impress again, finishing 9th and 16th respectively.

However, qualifying results are still subject to adjustment as stewards are still considering a number of situations where there may be infringements by multiple riders from different teams.

Qualification results