Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto triumphed in the Formula 2 feature race at the Red Bull Ring to become the 12th different winner of the season
MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto used an alternate strategy to pass Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar for second on the final lap, while championship leader Paul Aron finished sixth after serving a five-second penalty.
Colapinto’s team-mate Dennis Hauger was due to start from pole, but he dramatically stalled as the formation lap got underway, with DAMS’ Jack Crawford and Invicta’s Kush Maini doing the same. All three started the race from the pitlane.
AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen made use of having the front row to himself to lead early on from Bortoleto, Colapinto and Hitech GP’s Aron, while Campos Racing duo Hadjar and Pepe Marti battled over fifth.
Bortoleto snatched the lead on lap four, with Colapinto demoting Duerksen to third two laps later. Rodin Motorsport’s Zale Maloney pulled off the circuit with a mechanical issue on lap six, triggering a virtual safety car period, and Marti headed into the pitlane for his mandatory stop just as the race was neutralised.
The Spaniard’s fortunate timing enabled him to gain the net-race lead by 5.7 seconds once the other leading runners had pitted, while Colapinto stayed out on the harder tyre and held the overall lead until the closing stages.
Bortoleto eradicated Marti’s advantage by the halfway stage and then moved up the inside at turn three. Hadjar caught his team-mate for second, and after a battle between the pair for a couple of laps Marti was instructed to move aside.
Hadjar was not able to make use of his track position to catch Bortoleto, who took back over the race lead with eight laps to go once Colapinto pitted and then cruised to victory by 4.3.
Marti ran close behind Hadjar in the closing stages, and the pair were soon caught by Colapinto, who had used his fresh tyres to pass Aron for fourth. The Williams Academy member then climbed to second in the final two laps.
Hadjar held onto third ahead of Marti, who faces a post-race investigation for his pitstop during the VSC period. Aron was handed a penalty for changing direction twice during an earlier on-track battle, demoting him one place to sixth behind Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi, who climbed from 15th on the grid.
Duerksen was seventh and Hitech’s Amaury Cordeel and AIX’s Taylor Barnard was ninth, while ART Grand Prix’s O’Sullivan scored the final point in 10th.
Maloney’s team-mate Ritomo Miyata also retired with a technical problem, and it was also a difficult race for Prema, with Saturday’s sprint race winner retiring in the pitlane after running seventh early on and Andrea Kimi Antonelli losing time by stalling during his pitstop.
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
