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zane maloney takes formula 2 pole position with kimi antonelli sixth

Maloney takes F2 pole in stop-start session, Antonelli P6 after FP1 crash

30 August at 15:38
  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

Zane Maloney qualified on pole position in a hectic qualifying session at the Italian Grand Prix. The Bejan driver was able to find the pace when it mattered most right at the end of the session to take P1 from Isack Hadjar around the Autodromo Nazionale Moza circuit.

In what was a stop-start session as a result of two red flags, Maloney set the time to beat with just a minute to spare after not having a lap time set. He pipped Red Bull junior driver Hadjar by +0.089, and Estonian Paul Aron rounded out the top three. For Andrea Kimi Antonelli, he took P6 after his FP1 crash earlier in the day. Ollie Bearman was two places behind his Prema teammate in P8.

Maloney finds the pace in a chaotic qualifying session

After just 11 minutes of the session, the red flag came out, but not for a driver incident. In fact, it was because of a polystyrene brake marker which had been hit and broken across the track, meaning the session was stopped so the debris could be cleaned up. However, because of the delayed start to qualifying, the timing clock deleted three minutes, meaning drivers had 16 minutes left of qualifying instead of 19.

A spin into the gravel for Gabriel Bortoleto meant the red flag came out once again, just four minutes after the session restarted, and instead of the timing clock stopping, it continued to tick down under red flag conditions. As a result, ten drivers on the grid had not even set a lap time.

With just six-and-a-half minutes remaining, the session restarted again, and the track was full as all 24 drivers continued to set personal best times. It looked like Hadjar had done enough to earn himself the pole, but Maloney came in right at the end to steal it away.