Ollie Bearman returns to the top step in the 2024 F2 Austrian Sprint, ahead of Pepe Martí and championship leader Paul Aron.
Aron secures a strong podium in his Hitech, whilst his closest title contender Isack Hadjar struggles outside of the points.
The Start:
Bearman gets the best launch from 2nd, swooping into the lead before the first apex. Maini is forced to fight off the fast challenging Pepe Martí, racing him on the run up to turn 3.
Taylor Barnard in the AIX Racing car joins the fight, using every ounce of slipstream to bring himself into the fight for P3.
Pepe Martí and Kush Maini come together in the braking zone of turn 3, Martí clipping the right rear tyre of Maini and losing his front wing endplate. Maini is lucky to escape unharmed, running wide and hopping over the kerbs.
Championship contender Isack Hadjar dropped from 4th on the grid to outside of the top 10 after Lap 1, a horrendous start for him meant he had work to do to get near the points.
Feature race polesitter Dennis Hauger holds his position at the rear-end of the top 10, keeping out of trouble and allowing those ahead to fight.
At the end of Lap 1, the gap between Bearman in P1 and Martí in P2 stretched to over two seconds.
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Laps 5-20
Championship leader Paul Aron kept his nose clean, fighting off Gabriel Bortoleto behind and making a move on Barnard at Turn 3 for fourth place on Lap 7.
After Bearman’s initial charge in the opening laps, Martí closed the gap to the PREMA driver and by Lap 8 was back within DRS range.
The Red Bull Junior showed no signs of slowing despite earlier contact which damaged his front wing, he set his sights on chasing the leader in the 2024 F2 Austrian Sprint Race.
Barnard took a further step back as he dropped down to sixth after being overtaken by the Invicta of Bortoleto, the reigning F3 champion moving into fifth and chasing Aron.
However, it wasn’t long before Barnard was pushed further down the field. The young British driver was passed by Colapinto, Hauger, O’Sullivan, and Crawford from laps 11 to 20.
A great qualifying for the two AIX cars quickly unfolded into a tough afternoon and a race to hold onto a points-paying position for Barnard and teammate Joshua Duerksen.
The Closing stages
Towards the front of the field, Aron ran wide and took a dip into the gravel but remained unscathed. He recovered quickly to make his way past Maini out of Turn 3, Bortoleto following him through
Bearman continued to fight off Martí, keeping him at an arm’s length and teetering around the DRS distance but remaining in control.
Hauger made his way up to 6th, besting Duerksen and Maini to secure himself a steady points haul.
Further back in the field, a number of big names hung outside the top ten, hoping for trouble ahead that could give them an avenue to join the fight.
Our round one winner Zane Maloney had a lowly afternoon in qualifying and struggled to make any impact in the 2024 F2 Austrian Sprint Race, the two Rodin cars sat firmly at the back of the field for the majority of the race.
In the dying stages of the race, Hauger came up against Colapinto in the run to Turn 3. The two were side by side as Colapinto walked Hauger wide and over the sausage kerbs, sending Colpinto round and into the barriers.
The yellow flag was flown and the Williams Academy driver crawled back to the pits on the final lap.
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Victory Lane
Oliver Bearman won the 2024 F2 Austrian Sprint Race, holding off Pepe Martí in second place ahead of championship leader Paul Aron in third.
Aron extended his lead at the top of the standings, opening up a comfortable margin to second placed man Hadjar.
Bortoleto hangs onto fourth ahead of MP Motorsport driver Dennis Hauger, with Crawford, Maini, and Duerksen rounding out the points scorers.
Duerksen fought hard for his eight place finish, but unfortunately his teammate dropped to 12th in the latter stages of the race. A promising performance for the AIX team, ready to go again for the Feature Race tomorrow
The ART drivers sat ninth and tenth, a solid result for the team but just outside of the points on this occasion.
Photo credit: Haas F1 Team
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