QUALIFYING: Maloney beats Hadjar to take maiden F2 pole position in Monza

Zane Maloney left it late in the day to seal Pole Position at a dramatic Monza Qualifying. The Rodin Motorsport driver completed a lap of 1:32.160 to win out in a battle with fellow title contenders Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron.

It was a slow start to the session as while the rest of the field chose to stay in the pit lane, Roman Stanek decided to go out on track. The Trident driver completed a lap of 1:34.992 just as most of the grid made their way out on the circuit.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was next to set a lap, and he lowered the benchmark to 1:32.941, with Enzo Fittipaldi going closest to the PREMA Racing driver’s time in second, 0.256s off top spot.

Practice pace-setter Maloney had been on a good lap and was about to cross the line but the Red Flags were waved with the marshals needing to clear a polystyrene board from the track.

The session resumed with 16 minutes left on the clock, but as the times started to pour in once more, the Red Flags were out for a second time.

This time it was Gabriel Bortoleto stuck in the gravel at the second Lesmo. The Invicta Racing driver had not set a lap and will now start both races from the back of the grid, a blow to his title challenge.

The action resumed with seven minutes left to go as the drivers poured out of the pit lane, with just eight out of the 22 having set representative lap times.

A flurry of laps followed soon after with Hadjar going to the top of the timesheets on a 1:32.249, while Aron followed him across the line to go second.

But Maloney was on a charge and went fastest in the middle sector before beating the Campos Racing driver to the top spot by 0.089s.

The drivers pushed on for a second set of laps and while there were some improvements, no one could match Maloney’s time, giving him his first Formula 2 Pole Position.

Hadjar will join him on the front row with Aron in third while Dennis Hauger took fourth for MP Motorsport. Victor Martins was fifth for ART Grand Prix while Antonelli ended up in P6.

Josep María Martí was seventh for Campos ahead of Oliver Bearman, with Amaury Cordeel in P9 for Hitech Pulse-Eight.

Fittipaldi ended up with the 10th fastest time for Van Amersfoort Racing and will line up on reverse grid pole in Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Join us then with lights out at the 21-lap event set for 14:15 local time tomorrow afternoon.