QUALIFYING: Aron pips Bortoleto and Hadjar to Spa Pole

It was Paul Aron that claimed an important Pole Position for Hitech Pulse-Eight around Spa-Francorchamps, his 1:56.959 putting him on top ahead of his title rivals.

Gabriel Bortoleto was closest to the Estonian, 0.168s back in P2 while Championship leader Isack Hadjar wound up third on the grid, 0.2s down on his nearest rival.

Before anyone could record a timed lap, there was a Red Flag as the ART Grand Prix car belonging to Victor Martins slowed to a halt at the start of sector three.

The session resumed with 24 minutes on the clock, and when the first times filtered through, Hadjar set the pace with a 1:57.803, just 0.102s ahead of title rival Aron in P2.

Bortoleto filtered through in P3, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli fourth another tenth back from the Brazilian.

Kush Maini and Franco Colapinto were one of the few that opted to put a second lap in on their first set of Soft tyres and the pair improved to fifth and sixth respectively.

Drivers returned to the track with 10 minutes left of the session on a fresh set of tyres for their next attempts and there were improvements everywhere.

Aron improved his time to take provisional pole with three minutes to go on a 1:56.959. Hadjar couldn’t beat that and went second until Bortoleto went quicker still, 0.168s down on the Estonian.

Jak Crawford wound up fourth for DAMS Lucas Oil ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Zane Maloney.

Colapinto was seventh with Richard Verschoor eighth, Dennis Hauger in P9, while a late effort from Zak O’Sullivan put the Briton 10th and on reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.

The FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race from Spa-Francorchamps is set to get underway at 14:15 local time on Saturday.