Marcus Armstrong took his second FIA Formula 2 victory by triumphing in Saturday’s sprint race at Imola.
The Hitech GP driver came home 1.4 seconds ahead of Jehan Daruvala, while Dennis Hauger completed a double podium finish for Prema.
After running in wet conditions in both free practice and qualfying on Friday, drivers faced a dry circuit for the first time of the weekend.
There was drama before the race even started, when Amaury Cordeel crashed on the way to the grid. With damage to the rear suspension, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver was unable to take part.
Carlin’s Logan Sergeant made a poor getaway from pole and dropped to fifth, as Armstrong held off a fast-starting Roy Nissany to lead into the Tamburello chicane.
DAMS driver Nissany, who had lined up fifth on the grid, found himself sandwiched between Daruvala and Hauger into the first chicane. Daruvala moved up to second, and reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Hauger also squeezed past Nissany into third.
Championship leader Felipe Drugovich was another who made a great start, moving up five places to seventh on the opening lap for MP Motorsport.
Further down the field Charouz stand-in David Beckmann spun at Tamburello and was collected by Clement Novalak. Beckmann retired on the spot, while Novalak was forced to pit for a new front wing. Juri Vips, who topped Friday’s qualifying, also had a bad first corner, relegating the Hitech driver from 10th to 19th.
The race resumed on lap five following a safety car period to recover Beckmann’s stricken car. Armstrong continued to lead, while Vips passed Jake Hughes for 18th. But he immediately lost the position after a brief excursion at the Villeneuve chicane.
Drugovich gained a further position after Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung slowed with an issue from sixth before retiring.
Daruvala closed to within half a second of Armstrong in the second half of the race. But a lead battle was denied after the latter responded and pulled away. Hauger was 0.8s behind his team-mate in third, taking his first F2 podium. Nissany was a further half-second adrift in fourth.
Drugovich passed Sargeant late on to secure fifth, while ART’s Theo Pourchaire came home in seventh.
Liam Lawson passed Ayumu Iwasa after the safety car period before finishing eighth for Carlin. Iwasa, who will start Sunday’s feature from the front row, missed out on the points in ninth.
ART’s Frederick Vesti climbed from 16th on the grid and made a late pass on Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan to finish 10th. Feature race polesitter Vips recovered to 15th.
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
