FORMULA 2
 ART Grand Prix's Victor Martins takes his first podium and victory of the season in the Formula 2 Barcelona Sprint. Martins, part of the Alpine Academy, drove a dominant race to win by three seconds. Joining him on the podium were Kush Maini and Juan Manuel Correa, who were promoted to second and third respectively as Miyata was demoted due to time penalties for track limits. Championship leader Paul Aron finished fourth.overall and just missed out on a podium. How the Formula 2 sprint race in Barcelona unfoldedAfter a mightily close qualifying, in a fantastic Friday of running it was championship leader Paul Aron who took pole position by the slimmest of magins, with six thousandths of a second separating the top three. Jak Crawford was second with Franco Colapinto is third. As is often with the sprint races, the top 10 of the qualifying classification are reversed, meaning that Invicta's Alpine Academy talent Kush Maini would start from pole position and he would have 2023 rookie of the year Victor Martins alongside him on the front row. All 22 cars would take to the grid including Taylor Barnard, who was given permission to race despite not setting a time. All cars lined up and it was time for racing. Lights went out and a bad start from Kush Maini and a great start for Martins. The two Alpine Academy drivers had differing starts to the race but it was Martins who led into turn 1 and the first lap. Action was happening up and down the field with Ritomo Miyata was up to second, while a horror start for maini and was down to fourth. Maini's adventurous racing continued on the following lap as he made a move on Juan Manuel Correa into turn 1 and the Indian driver was up into third place overall. This left Correa at a bad position momentum wise and Maini's teammate Gabriel Bortoleto found his way through. Bortoleto up to fourth and Correa down to fifth and under pressure from Paul Aron who had started ninth and was up to sixth. It would have been fifth had Correa not been brilliant with his defence This 26 lap race was already producing a fascinating spectacle, as a good lap for highly rated rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli put him in a good position to try and get ahead of Aron. He was however back under pressure from Isack Hadjar. Antonelli defended the Frenchman's attempted pass and the Italian kept seventh place. Hadjar was not giving up on Antonelli and his latest attempt was a move into turn 1 but Antonelli was defending well of Campos. Oliver Bearman had been having another difficult weekend to what has been a difficult Formula 2 campaign so far. There was a moment between Rafael Villagomez and Bearman. Villagomez made a move on the young Brit for 14th. The Ferrari Academy driver going off the track and rejoining via the escape road. Bearman would lose another position on the following lap and this time it would be Richard Verschoor in the Trident who would find a way ahead of the Prema. His Prema was having a really difficult time of it and was struggling to stay within the confines of track limits. On lap 10 and it was clear Bearman had an issue. He was losing places to Roman Stanek, Enzo Fittipaldi, Taylor Barnard and Amaury Cordeel. The British driver was now last and it looked like a mechanical problem. Antonelli in the other Prema as he was struggling for pace in the sprint as Hadjar's relentless trying was rewarded and the Red Bull junior driver got ahead of Antonelli for seventh. Jak Crawford then took advantage of Antonelli being vulnerable and the DAMS driver cleared the Mercedes Academy talent. The midway point arrived and Martins had a lead just over a second to second place Ritomo Miyata in the Rodin Motorsport. Miyata would be a driver along with Trident's Roman Stanek and Prema's Bearman to receive a black and white flag for track limits. Penalties could start coming for drivers as Zane Maloney, Miyata's teammate was the next driver to be issued the driving standards flag. A penalty did arrive relatively soon and Stanek was the first driver to be awarded the penalty. Kush Maini was trying to recover after his poor start from pole position and was applying the pressure onto Miyata. Whatever Maini was doing, the pressure caved in for Miyata and he would receive a five-second time penalty for track limits. Antonelli was under pressure from another driver. This time it was Dennis Hauger, who was the latest driver to receive a black and white flag for track limits.This order could change a lot before the end. Maloney would then receive a five-second penalty for track limits, joining his teammate with a penalty. Fifth place Juan Manuel Correa would be the next to receive a black and white flag for track limits and was putting huge sums of pressure on Gabriel Bortoleto. This allowed Paul Aron to slowly catch up to the back of Correa. This was building into a fight for a potential podium as Miyata would receive another penalty for track limits Further back and Hauger could breathe a sigh of relief as he finally got ahead of Antonelli for ninth as at a similar time Jak Crawford found his way ahead of Antonelli into seventh. Into the final few laps and the battle for third was really hotting up as Hadjar was not all too far away from the train being headed by Bortoleto - the reigning Formula 3 champion. Rafael Villagomez and Andrea Kimi Antonelli would be the next two drivers to get a black and white flag for track limit violations. Onto the penultimate lap and a huge lock up for Bortoleto leaves him under huge pressure from the train into turn 10 and Correa sent a lovely move for fourth place in the race, which would be a podium thanks to Miyata's penalty. Onto the final lap, and Aron sent a lovely move round the outside of turn 3 to take fourth from Bortoleto, a quite sensational move and Crawford would get the move done into fifth. However, out front Victor Martins had dominated. After such a difficult start to the season with a best finish of seventh, when a lot of people thought he'd be running for the title. He found his groove again though on Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya. He took the chequered flag for over three seconds to take victory for ART. A sensational drive. It was an Alpine Academy 1-2, with Kush Maini for Invicta Racing coming home in second place after Miyata's penalties saw him drop to eighth. In third place, a memorable podium would be Juan Manuel Correa's. His first podium in the category since the Circuit Paul Ricard since 2019 when he joined Anthoine Hubert, a guy who lost his life in the incident that Correa was involved in at Spa. It took a lot of mental courage and a lot of recovery for the Amercian and has fought his way back to Formula 2 and Correa could now say he was a podium finisher once again. He came across the line to take fourth but it would be third for the American driver. A magical podium. Paul Aron took fourth ahead of Jak Crawford who ended fifth thanks to the penalties of Miyata and Gabriel Bortoleto finished sixth. Isack Hadjar would pick up seventh with Miyata's penalty dropping him to the final points position in eighth. A sensational race and sensational drive from Victor Martins and he had to work hard but it was a well earned and deserving drive. Action will return for the feature race on Sunday. 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 6 - Spain sprint race provisional result
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed