Free Practice-
Isack Hadjar made a fine start to the opening round of the weekend in Sakhir by topping the timesheets in Free Practice.
The Campos Racing driver left it late in the session to complete a lap of 1:45.099 to lead MP Motorsport rookie Franco Colapinto by 0.137s.
As the lights turned green, most teams opted to keep their cars in the pitlane although Hadjar was the first driver out on track to complete a lap, however it was his Campos teammate Josep Maria Marti who set the early benchmark with a time of 1:45.849.
But then the Rodin Motorsport pair of Zane Maloney and Ritomo Miyata, with the former going to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:45.588.
Now with the session winding down to a close and the drivers now returning to the track for a final few laps, Hadjar secured the top spot.
Qualifying-
Kush Maini scored his maiden pole position in FIA Formula 2 as he beat out teammate Gabriel Bortoleto to seal a P1 start for Saturday’s Feature Race.
On his final attempt in Qualifying, Maini completed a lap of 1:41.696 to go to the top of the timesheets, Bortoleto followed his teammate across the line two-tenths off the pole-winning effort.
It was Maini who set the early pace for Invicta Racing, aided by a strong middle sector, he completed a lap of 1:42.533 to lead Hauger by just 0.045s.
With 10 minutes gone, the driver returned to the pitlane for some fresher tyres. However, that was when Campos elected to send Hadjar and Josep Maria Marti out on track for the first time in the session.
The rest of the field then emerged from the pit lane ahead of their final runs with Maloney going fastest. But the Bajan’s time was quickly eclipsed by the Invicta pair.
Maloney and a number of other drivers including ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins, made their second attempts at the top spot, but with the Pirelli rubber not offer more than one push lap.
However… Kush Maini has been disqualified from the final Qualifying classification after his Invicta Racing car was found in breach of the Technical Regulations.
The Stewards found that the height of the left undertray front external strake of the car was below the required minimum height and therefore not in line with the Technical Regulations.
As a consequence, all of Maini’s times set during the Qualifying session has been removed. And will be starting the Sprint Race & Feature Race from the back of the grid. Instead, Gabriel Bortoleto has inherited pole position.
The full top 10 are- P1: Bortoleto, P2: Hadjar, P3: Maloney, P4: Hauger, P5: Miyata, P6: O’Sullivan, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Martins, P9: Barnard and P10: Crawford.
Jordan's Track Talk 
Leave a comment