Back in Imola for the first time since 2022, the F2 cars were lined up ready to go for the 25 lap Sprint race. Although not as strong as Friday, the wind was blowing.
The front row featured Amaury Cordeel in the Hitech Pulse-Eight on pole and the MP Motorsport of Franco Colapinto second. This is because of the reverse top 10 for the Sprint races. Championship leader Zane Maloney started 5th alongside Kimi Antonelli.
The drivers headed out on their formation lap, a slow get away for Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Zak O’sullivan.
The cars lined up on the grid, and the lights went out.
The Opening Laps
The start saw Paul Aron take the lead in the first corners. The yellow flags went out and then quickly a safety car. A massive incident involving 5 cars behind the leaders.
A group of cars came together into turn one. Hadjar in the Campos spun across the track. Dürksen ran through the grass, along with the Trident of Stanek, sustaining damage from the hit. Hauger in the MP was caught up in the spin, also sustaining damage.
The AIX Racing of Dürksen, Trident of Roman Stanek, Enzo Fittipaldi in the Van Amersfoort Racing, Dennis Hauger in the MP Motorsport and Isaac Hadjar in the Campos were all out of the race.
The top three behind the safety car were Aron, Cordeel, and Colapinto. Kush Maini made up 8 places in the crash and O’sullivan made 11 places, making the most of the incident. Mercedes hopeful, Antonelli, fell to P12.
Safety ended on Lap 5, and the racing resumed lap 6. Aron started early, getting a strong start away from teammate Cordeel. Immediately getting a second ahead.
Cordeel went wide, going for a run through the gravel. He fell to third. Colapinto took second place, Aron remained a second ahead.
Ollie Bearman, the driver who’s had the busiest weekend, switching from F2 to F1 and back to F2, spent the post safety car laps fighting off Gabriel Bortoleto.
Second Half Of the Race
Amaury Cordeel does a fastest lap of 1:30.880, his teammate up in first. Unfortunatly, Josep Maria Martí was hit with a 10 second penalty, the campos headed into the pits to serve it.
Paul Aron responded to Cordeel’s fastest lap with a 1:30.520. The gap to Colapinto falling from 1.7 seconds down to 1.1 seconds by lap 12.
The fight in the top 5 was closing rapidly, Colapinto getting within DRS range of Paul Aron. Similarly, Maloney in the Rodin Carlin was hanging onto the back of the Hitech of Cordeel.
Just 0.275 seconds between Aron and Colapinto, on Lap 15, Colapinto took the fastest lap, 1:30.352. Pushing for the lead.
The Battle for P5 contained Bearman, Bortoleto, Barnard and Verschoor. All three drivers inside the others DRS. Bearman was the only one without DRS, with 1.5 seconds to Maloney in fourth.
5 Laps To Go
Paul Aron maintaining his lead, Colapinto kept the gap under a second roughly 0.8 seconds.
Maloney waited until the final three laps, finally getting past Cordeel. The championship leader put himself up into the podium places.
On lap 25, Colapinto made the move on Aron, around the outside into Tamburello, straddling the curb with the brave move.
Colapinto took the lead on the last lap.
Gabriel Bortoleto followed suit, making a move on Ollie Bearman. Unfortunatlely, it was unsuccessful for the Brazilian driver, remaining in P6.
Finally, Colapinto crosses the finish line. The incident ruled no further investigation. He leads from Paul Aron and Zane Maloney.
Franco Colapinto, becomes the first Argentinian driver to win a Formula 2 race. A historic moment for the Williams driver and MP Motorsport team.
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