ART Grand Prix’s Zak O’Sullivan took a maiden Formula 2 victory from 15th on the grid after a strategy gamble paid off in the closing stages of the feature race in Monte Carlo.
Hitech GP’s Isack Hadjar had looked on course for victory but an incident with three laps to go allowed Williams F1 Academy member O’Sullivan, the only driver in the field still to make his mandatory pitstop, to come in from the lead for his tyre change under virtual safety car conditions and emerge still in front before triumphing by half a second.
Trident’s Richard Verschoor converted pole into the lead when the lights went out, but Victor Martins was slow away from the front row and plummeted to 15th.
After resisting early pressure from Hadjar, Verschoor pulled clear at the front, but his advantage was trimmed to two seconds after his car slowed momentarily with an issue on lap 19 of 42 before getting back up to speed.
By this stage Prema’s Ollie Bearman, who climbed from 12th to seventh at the start, had made his mandatory pitstop. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who had battled MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto fourth early on, lost out to his team-mate Bearman shortly after pitting on lap 22.
Verschoor maintained the net lead ahead of Hadjar and Hitech GP’s Paul Aron after coming in for his tyre change two laps later, but soon the Dutchman was hampered by more car issues.
Hadjar swept past the ailing Trident machine into Sainte Devote and after a side-by side battle Aron also moved ahead of Verschoor, who was handed a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage before retiring in the pitlane shortly after losing a further place to Bearman.
Aron remained close behind Hadjar over the next few laps, the latter escaping a brush with the wall to remain ahead. The still-to-stop O’Sullivan led in the closing stages, staying out in the hope of an incident playing into his hands.
With three laps that’s exactly what happened, with Joshua Durksen emerging from his own mandatory pitstop straight into the path of points leader Zane Maloney, causing a collision between the pair.
O’Sullivan pitted at the end of the lap under VSC conditions with an 18s advantage, enough to rejoin the race ahead of Hadjar, and he held off the Red Bull junior under green flags conditions in the final two laps for a surprise win.
Aron finished 7s behind the pair in third, with Bearman fourth. Juan Manuel Correa and Dennis Hauger leapfrogged ahead of Antonelli after their mandatory stops to finish fifth and sixth. Gabriel Bortoleto was eighth ahead of Martins, while Maloney continued after his late collision and came home 10th,
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
