Theo Pourchaire took feature F2 race pole in Monza amid chaos, as Oliver Goethe did so in F3 under red flag which helped Gabriel Bortoleto to win the title.

F2:

Even after a delayed start to F2 qualifying in Monza, drivers took their time to start setting a lap time as the tow fears already set in. The first run eventually saw ART’s Theo Pourchaire on top with a 1m32.328s lap from Prema’s Oliver Bearman.

Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar was third from ART’s Victor Martins and Campos Racing’s Kush Maini in the Top 5 amid lap deletions for certain drivers including Martins and Carlin’s Zan Maloney, where the latter couldn’t set a quality time after a small gravel moment.

He was not alone in that list with Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel also having a wide gravel moment, as an impeding between PHM Charouz’s Roy Nissany and Pourchaire was noted. Flames blowing from the car ended Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford session in the pitlane.

But the obsession with tow ended chances of a host of cars to set a second lap time as Pourchaire’s first lap was enough to hand him F2 feature race pole in Monza ahead of Bearman as Trident’s Roman Stanek jumped to third on his final lap.

This dropped Bearman to fourth from Martins, Maini, Crawford, Prema’s Frederik Vesti, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Richard Verschoor and Campos’ Ralph Boschung in the Top 10. The Swiss driver went on his own and improved himself up to 10th.

He secured sprint race pole as a result, with MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger also improving to 11th after breaking away from the back. His teammate Jehan Daruvala did so too but could only manage 16th in the end.

 

F3:

Oliver Goethe secured his first pole position of the season at Monza for Trident, confirming teammate Gabriel Bortoleto as the 2023 Formula 3 Drivers’ Champion in the process. Running in the gap as one of two drivers on track after the second of three Red Flag appearances, the German driver posted a 1:38.909 to go less than a tenth clear of Van Amersfoort Racing’s Caio Collet and Paul Aron in third.

It was all about the waiting game in the early phase of running, as everyone tried to avoid being the first to jump. Aron led a train of cars out on track at the green light, but the field swiftly filtered back into the pits following their installation laps.

Queues immediately formed around the track at the 23-minute mark. Situated right in the middle of a train of cars out of the Lesmo chicane, Ido Cohen was sent spinning after Rodin Carlin teammate Oliver Gray hit the rear of the #22 car, bringing out the first Red Flag. Following closely behind the pair, Bortoleto took evasive action, narrowly avoiding getting caught up in the contact.

Once running resumed, there was no time to waste. Hungry to keep his title hopes alive, Aron went fastest of all with a 1:39.043. The PREMA Racing driver’s effort didn’t stay top for long, as Collet leapfrogged him into provisional pole, but there was little to separate the top three with 0.054s covering Collet, Aron and Goethe.

The session was Red Flagged again seconds later, after a spin for Joshua Dufek left the Campos Racing driver stuck in the gravel trap at the Variante della Roggia.

When the session resumed with 15 minutes remaining, Goethe and Bortoleto were the only two cars to gamble on a run without the benefit of a slipstream. It served the #6 car well, as Goethe managed to improve on his earlier effort to go top by 0.092s.

Opting for another attempt, the Trident driver went off into the barriers at Turn 7. With a third and final Red Flag deployed, nobody got an opportunity to improve as the session was not resumed. As Championship contenders Aron and Josep María Martí were unable to secure the two points awarded for pole, Bortoleto’s job was done to claim the title.

Jonny Edgar finished fourth for MP Motorsport, ahead of Bortoleto. Gabriele Minì claimed the sixth-fastest time ahead of Zak O’Sullivan and Leonardo Fornaroli, ensuring all three Trident cars inside the top eight. Britons Luke Browning and Taylor Barnard rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.

 

More to come

 

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