Invicta Racing will take to the front row for the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia after Kush Maini took second place in Qualifying.
Thursday’s action began with 45 minutes of practice around the fast and flowing circuit. The running was interrupted by a red flag, but the team completed a decent amount of running with Kush in second and Gabriel Bortoleto in 12th place.
30 minutes of Qualifying began as daylight began to fade and the floodlights took over. As the session progressed, the track temperatures dropped.
The drivers were able to run a couple of push laps on each tyre during the session, with some attempting three quick laps on their first set. With many of the best times coming on the second lap on a set of tyres, it meant that the session was not decided until the final moments.
Both Kush and Gabriel were in the top 10 after the first runs with times of 1:43.298 and 1:43.142 respectively. With the sun setting more as the session progressed, the times were expected to drop further.
On their second runs, Kush put in a strong effort to sit just 0.025s off pole position with a time of 1:42.242, while Gabriel sat out of the top 10.
Kush was unable to improve on his final lap, while Gabriel only improved slightly to a 1:42.942. Once it had all shaken out, Kush had secured second and Gabriel 15th for Saturday’s Feature Race.
The team now looks ahead to Friday’s Sprint Race, scheduled for 18:10 Arabian Standard Time, with Kush lining up ninth and Gabriel in 15th.
FREE PRACTICE:
- Kush Maini: P02, 1:43.896
- Gabriel Bortoleto: P12, 1:44.568
- Kush Maini: P02, 1:42.242
- Gabriel Bortoleto: P15, 1:42.942
KUSH MAINI: "I was really happy with how the car felt in qualifying, I was just a little bit frustrated. I felt like I could have done a bit more with the first lap of the second set. I think I did everything I could on the final lap, but I didn’t really have the tyre life or the grip to get pole. I am really confident with the car and looking forward to bringing home some good points for the team over the remainder of the weekend."
GABRIEL BORTOLETO: "It was not the easiest of qualifying sessions from my side. The first set of tyres felt really good and I was very comfortable with the car. On the second set, I lost a bit of confidence and unfortunately I tapped the wall and sustained some damage which affected my lap time. I am happy with the team’s performance overall, they provided me with a great car, and Kush did a good job to be close to pole, and I had the potential to be in the mix as well."
