A well-timed pitstop helped Jak Crawford win an eventful Formula 2 feature race, which had to be restarted following an 11-car pileup
The DAMS driver leapfrogged himself into the lead by pitting before his rivals during a second virtual safety car period, and he became the winner due to the race being red-flagged.
Meanwhile, Hitech GP’s Luke Browning became the new championship leader.
A collision between front-row starters Alex Dunne and Victor Martins was the cause of the huge melee when the race originally got underway.
A slow getaway from Rodin Motorsport’s polesitter Dunne allowed Martins to move ahead, but the pair tangled and crashed into the barriers at turn one when Dunne tried to fight back on the inside.
Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli managed to avoid the incident and take the lead, but MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor collected two stricken cars and hit the barriers. Eight other cars also got caught up in the carnage, leaving the track blocked and causing the contest to be halted.
Joining Dunne, Martins and Verschoor in retirement were Prema’s Gabriele Mini, Martins’ ART GP team- mate Ritomo Miyata, Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti and Trident’s Max Esterson.
A full restart followed a lengthy stoppage, with Fornaroli leading when the safety car peeled into the pits. Having taken the original start from the pitlane due to car issues, Prema’s Sebastian Montoya now lined up from second, which he maintained ahead of Campos’s Arvid Lindblad and Crawford.
The first VSC came on lap seven when AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen clipped the rear of Kush Maini’s DAMS machine and clattered into the barriers, and the second arrived on lap 14 due to Hitech’s Dino Beganovic crashing at Casino Square.
Crawford was the highest-placed driver to pit as soon as the second VSC was declared, with Browning and Maini following him in.
Fornaroli, Montoya and Lindblad pitted on the next lap and rejoined ahead of Browning but, crucially, behind Crawford.
Lindblad jumped ahead of Montoya during the pair’s pitstops but incurred a 5s penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
With barrier repairs needed at Casino Square, officials then ended the race by bringing out red flags.
Crawford was therefore declared the victor ahead of Fornaroli, Montoya and Browning, while Lindblad slipped back to fifth due to his penalty.
Maini took sixth ahead of Invicta’s Roman Stanek, while MP’s Oliver Goethe was sandwiched between Van Amersfoort Racing duo Rafael Villagomez and John Bennett in ninth.
credit: Formula 2 on X
