Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar held off Gabriel Bortoleto for his second consecutive Formula 2 feature race win in Sunday’s contest at Imola, while pitlane drama denied early leader Ollie Bearman.
Invicta Racing’s Bortoleto lined up from pole but made a slow getaway and dropped to fourth, as fellow front-row starter Bearman took the lead for Prema ahead of Hadjar and AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen, and Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli resisted a challenge from Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney for fifth.
Hadjar put pressure on Bearman in the early stages, coming close to making a move into Tamburello on lap three, and the Red Bull junior dived into the pitlane to switch from soft to medium compound tyres as soon as the pit window opened at the start of lap seven. He was joined in making his mandatory stop by Durksen, Maloney and Trident’s Romanek Stanek, who benefitted from Maloney being held in his pit box to gain a position.
Bearman and Bortoleto came in next time by, but Bearman’s victory hopes evaporated after stalling twice and rejoining near the back of the field. Bortoleto came back out behind Hadjar, who assumed the net race lead in seventh, while Antonelli emerged behind Durksen after pitting on the next lap.
Hadjar and Bortoleto had pulled well clear of Durksen by the time they moved into first and second in the closing stages once those running the alternate strategy made their mandatory stops.
Bortoleto used his DRS to pressure Hadjar into Tamburello a couple of times, and also ran his rival close into Piratella. But Hadjar held on for the win by 0.5 seconds, with Durksen coming home a further 13s behind for his first F2 podium. Antonelli held off Saturday’s sprint race top two Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) and Paul Aron (Hitech GP) for fourth.
Maloney spent several laps trying to pass Stanek after his pitstop, but the pair lost out to Jack Crawford who went on to finish seventh. Having started on the medium tyres before pitting late on, Juan Manuel Correa, Victor Martins and Richard Verschoor all used their fresh tyres to climb into the top 10. Maloney slipped to 11th and out of the points but maintained the championship lead, five points ahead of Aron, while Hadjar’s win moved him into third.
MP’s Dennis Hauger recovered to 12th after being squeezed off the road by Pepe Marti early on at Tamburello, with Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata taking avoiding action through the gravel as Hauger bounced back across the road, the Japanese racer eventually finishing 15th.
Having ran first and second on the alternate strategy until five laps to go, Hitech’s Amaury Cordeel and Marti both retired after a scary incident while making their pitstops. Cordeel was released from his pit box with a loose right-rear wheel, which became detached and struck a tyre and mechanic from the Campos team before bouncing in the air but landed without hitting anybody else. In the chaos Marti was released by Campos with a loose left-rear tyre which also detached itself. Bearman gained two places as a result but trailed home 19th.
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
