Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his first Formula 2 feature race win after a late safety car period turned Sunday’s contest on its head at the Hungaroring
The Mercedes F1 junior charged from fifth to first after making his mandatory stop during the intervention, denying ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins. Trident’s Richard Verschoor, who lost his win in Saturday’s sprint race after being disqualifed for a technical infringement, snatched third on the final lap from Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto.
Points leader Isack Hadjar was forced to the start the race from the pitlane after failing to make it out to the grid in time, and his chief title rival Paul Aron made slow launch from pole and slipped to seventh after running wide into turn one.
Martins stormed from fifth on the grid to lead Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi, and he resisted a challenge from the Brazilian at the start of lap three before pulling out a two-second gap.
Bortoleto ran third, while Antonelli snatched fourth from Zane Maloney after squabble through turns 9 to 11, with MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger and Aron closing in behind. Aron tried to pass Hauger on the next lap but ending up spinning himself and Maloney out of the race after hitting the back of the Rodin Motorsport’s driver’s car.
The safety car was deployed, with the the front three pitting to switch from soft to hard tyres. Martins rejoined in fourth, with the still-to-pit Antonelli leading Verschoor and Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini at the restart.
Martins picked off Verschoor and Maini over the next eight laps while Bortoleto, who had grabbed a net second at the restart from Fittipaldi, six seconds to the Alpine F1 junior while battling his way past Hitech GP’s Amaury Cordeel and Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata.
Cordeel eventually caused the second safety car period of the race after losing control on a kerb and crashing on the exit of turn four, with Antonelli diving into the pits with a 6s lead.
Rejoining in fifth, Antonelli used his soft tyres to pass Hauger and Fittipaldi at the restart and, after sweeping past Bortoleto and Martins over the next couple laps, pulled clear to win by 12.5s.
Martins came home second, while Verschoor snatched third on the final lap from Bortoleto after also pitting during the second safety period and then charging up the order.
Fittipaldi was fifth ahead of Hauger, Maini and Miyata, while AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard came home ninth ahead of VAR’s Rafael Villagomez. Hadjar struggled to make up ground and finished 18th.
Featured image credit: Prema Team
