Zane Maloney took his maiden Formula 2 pole at Monza on Friday. The Rodin driver beat championship rivals Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron into second and third places respectively, while Gabriel Bortoleto spun out. After the session, Maloney discussed his performance with Feeder Series, alongside selected media at a press conference. 

By Martin Lloyd

In a chaotic session, Maloney rose to the top. This could prove to be an important pole, as he currently lies 52 points behind championship leader Hadjar. If Maloney can kickstart the final stretch of the season by closing the gap further, his championship dream will stay alive. 

Maloney noted his difficult championship position after the session. He had led the standings in the early stages, but is currently sitting fourth after a run of 13 points in four rounds hampered his progress. 

“Looking at the races, I’m hoping to have two very good races,” Maloney said. “I’m still in the fight, anything can happen. It was a wait to get the first pole but there’s still a lot of work to do. I’m looking forward to the feature race, [looking for] two good starts and we’ll go from there. 

After the session, Maloney also discussed his previous record at the track, having won the Formula 3 feature race two years ago.

“Yeah I did well in F3 in 2022. Last year was a disaster of a weekend for me, so I’m glad to come back to Monza and be back on the pace again.”

Most drivers stayed in the pitlane for the first part of the session, choosing to emerge later on. When the majority of the field eventually headed onto the track, Victor Martins made a trip to the gravel at the second Lesmo corner. In the process, he dislodged a polystyrene board, causing a red flag. 

Almost immediately after the restart, Bortoleto lost control of his Invicta on the exit of the first Lesmo corner. After initially catching a slide into the gravel, the Brazilian found himself on a patch of extremely dry grass, and became a passenger. He skidded into the gravel, forcing championship leader Hadjar’s closest challenger out of the session and causing a second red flag. 

When the session eventually restarted, the clock had not been stopped – if it had, the session would not have finished on time, displacing the other scheduled track events. This left the drivers with just six minutes remaining, and many did not yet have a time on the board after the stoppages. There were no further incidents, with Maloney eventually coming out on top.

Maloney finished nine hundredths quicker than Hadjar, with Aron third ahead of Dennis Hauger. Victor Martins was fifth, followed by Kimi Antonelli in sixth after his earlier F1 free practice accident. Pepe Martí and Ollie Bearman were seventh and eighth, with Amaury Cordeel and Enzo Fittipaldi forming the reverse-grid front row for the sprint race in ninth and tenth.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency