Invicta Racing's Gabriel Bortoleto secured a place on the front row for Sunday’s Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps.
The day of running began with Free Practice. The conditions were damp for much of the 45-minute session which, along with a red flag, limited the running to just eight laps. Gabriel was in the top 10, while Kush’s best lap at the end of the session was ruined by traffic.
Conditions were fine for the 30-minute Qualifying, although rain loomed in the distance. The drivers’ first runs were interrupted by a red flag a short while into the session, which affected any lap times in progress.
When the session resumed, both Invicta Racing drivers were among those who put in two timed laps on their first set of tyres, with both being sat in the top five before pitting for their second set of Softs.
The track improved significantly for the second runs such that the entire field was improving on their times. Gabriel put in a time of 1 minute 57.127 seconds to slot into second position, while Kush sat in 12th on 1m57.804 – less than a tenth of a second away from the top eight.
Gabriel attempted to improve on a final quick lap, but there was not the tyre life left. The team will look to move forward from ninth and 12th in Saturday’s Sprint Race, which begins at 14:15 CEST (UTC+2).
FREE PRACTICE:
- Gabriel Bortoleto: P10, 1:59.701
- Kush Maini: P19, 2:00.516
QUALIFYING:
- Gabriel Bortoleto: P02, 1:57.127
- Kush Maini: P12, 1:57.804
GABRIEL BORTOLETO: “We can be happy with second place in Qualifying, but the top spot would have been very sweet. Unfortunately, we just did not quite have the tyre life left at the end for that extra lap. We will aim to maximise the results from both of the races, and to pick up as many points as possible as we head towards the summer break.”
KUSH MAINI: “It was not the easiest day today, but the result could have been very different if we found just a few hundredths of a second which highlights how competitive this championship is. Fortunately, this is a track where it is possible to overtake and with the weather so unpredictable there may be opportunities in the races to turn things around.”
