The Hitech Pulse-Eight of Paul Aron led the Formula 2 Practice Sessions with a 1:28.852. Gabriel Bortoleto following by 0.071 seconds and Zane Maloney in third.
The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix is the first race since March for the Formula 2 World Championship. Cancelled last year because of flooding, the Championship has been eager to return to the iconic track.
The historic track had been a part of the Formula One series since the 1980s. Known for being a technical track, with tricky curbs and bumpy road it means the practice session is vital for drivers needing the time to get used to the hard nature of the track, with qualifying later this afternoon.
The Formula 2 session had a delayed start because of red flags from the Formula 3 session earlier. At 11:14am track time, the cars headed out.
How the Session went
It was a slow start to the session, with the cars getting some slow laps done under the sun before heading out for the first timed laps of the session.
On the yellow-marked medium Pirelli tyres, it was the Trident of Roman Stanek who put in the first flying lap, with a 1:30.784. Isaac Hadjar was only 0.028 off in the Campos racing car. Kush Maini gets himself third 0.040 back with Invicta racing.
However, the session is only just getting started, and as rubber goes down on track, the times start to fall. Hadjar improves on his lap to break the 1:30’s, doing a 1:29.805, followed still by Maini with a gap of 0.040.
Dennis Hauger did a 1:29.539, topping the timing sheet. The top 12 drivers were all split by only half a second.
Hauger didn’t keep the time for long with the F3 Champion Gabriel Bortoleto pulling a blinding lap of 1:28.923. The only driver at that point to break the 1:29s with 0.588 between him and Paul Aron in the Hitech Pulse-Eight behind.
Richard Verschoor went second in the Trident, but he was still 0.474 off Bortoleto’s time.
The PREMA pair improved, Andrea Kimi Antonelli going second 0.400 off Bortoleto and Oliver Bearman fifth, only 0.100 off his teammate.
Bearman loses his lap time because of track limits. A common occurrence round the narrow Imola track.
Final 10 minutes
Paul Aron in the Hitech was on a flying lap, with a purple sector two. As he crossed the line fastest with an impressive 1:28.852.
Championship leader Zane Maloney was the third driver to break the 1:29s but was only fast enough for third.
The Yellow flags were waved with only seven minutes left in the session. Ollie Bearman’s PREMA car had crashed at the exit of Turn 4 and was missing a front wing. A Red flag was waved.
After a snap of oversteer, the British driver hit the wall, damaging both the front suspension and wing of the car. Fortunately, he was quickly out of the car and okay.
Following the red flag, the session would not be resumed. Paul Aron’s time of a 1:28.852 remains the fastest ahead of Bortoleto and Maloney.
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