Formula 2 qualifying gets underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with warm, dry conditions. Qualifying will be run on the soft tyres, unlike the earlier practice, which was done on the hard tyres.
The green flag gets the session started as about half of the drivers make their way out onto the track to set early lap times. The other drivers remain in the pits, in various stages of preparation.
Paul Aron (ARO) of Hitech Pulse-Eight sets the top time of 1:41.616. Aron topped the practice session earlier with the fastest time of 1:26.922. Lap times for the other drivers out on track are quickly being set, but Aron remains top.
Aron improves his time to 1:25.385. He remains top, as the other drivers improve their times.
A yellow flag is declared as Taylor Barnard (BAR) of AIX Racing goes off at Turn 9 and into the barrier. Barnard is on the radio announcing that he is okay, but his day is over.
The yellow flag is upgraded to a red flag, halting the session, as Barnard’s car is recovered.
Current standings are: ARO, HAU, COL, MIY, MAI, DUR, ACO, BOR, DIT, VIL, STA and BAR. Current fastest time set by Paul Aron (1:25.385). Dennis Hauger (HAU) of MP Motorsport currently sits in P2 with a time of 1:25.604, roughly 0.2 seconds behind Aron. Hauger’s teammate, Franco Colapinto (COL), sits in P3 with a time of 1:25.613, roughly 0.2 seconds behind Aron, and only 0.009 seconds behind his teammate.
The session resumes at 16:09. The drivers previously on the track are quick to return. They are slowly joined by the other drivers who had remained in the pits. The track is not quite crowded.
All drivers have now set a lap time. Aron remains the fastest, but Prema Racing’s Oliver Bearman (BEA) is slowest, after completing the first Formula 1 practice session with Haas. His teammate, Kimi Antonelli (ANT) is P14.
Times improving for all drivers as Isack Hadjar (HAD) of Campos Racing sets the new fastest time of 1:25.205, Antonelli goes second with a time of 1:25.346. Bearman is struggling. His latest attempt sees him only up to P18 with a time of 1:26.292, 1.2 seconds behind the leading time set by Hadjar. Just about 12 minutes remaining, and most drivers have returned to the pits.
Ten minutes remaining. Current standings: HAD, ANT, ARO, MAL, HAU, COL, MIY, OSU, VMA, VER, MAI, CRA, JCO, DUR, ACO, BOR, FIT, BEA, JMA, VIL, STA, BAR. As a reminder, Barnard is out of the session after his earlier collision with the barriers.
Eight minutes left in qualifying, and the drivers are now back on track.
Incident in the pit lane between Hadjar and Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi (FIT) goes on the radio to complain about an unsafe release by Hadjar. The incident has been noted. Hadjar sets the new fastest time of 1:25.205 as drivers continue to improve their times into the last five minutes of qualifying. Aron now fastest with a time of 1: 24.766. Drivers now setting the fastest times with less than two minutes left in the qualifying session.
Current standings: ARO, CRA, COL, BOR, ANT, MIY, DU, JCO, VMA, MAI, HAD, OSU, HAU, JMA, BEA, FIT, MAL, ACO, VER, VIL, STA, BAR.
Aron retains the fastest time of 1:24.766, but Jak Crawford (CRA) of DAMS Lucas Oil is only 0.002 seconds behind with a time of 1:24.768. Colapinto in P3 is only 0.06 seconds behind Aron with a time of 1:24.772. Gabriel Bortoleto (BOR) is P4 with a time of 1:24.821 and Antonelli rounds out the top 5 with a time of 1:24.871.
The drivers opt not to attempt a final run, so the chequered flag falls on an empty track.
The final standings: ARO, CRA, COL, BOR, ANT, MIY, DUR, JCO, VMA, MAI, HAD, OSU, HAU, JMA, BEA, FIT, MAL, ACO, VER, VIL, STA and BAR. This will be the provisional start order for Sunday’s feature race. However, the top 10 will start tomorrow’s Sprint race in reverse grid order which means that Kush Maini (MAI) of Invicta Racing will start at the front of the grid.
