Williams Academy member Luke Browning took his maiden victory during an incident-filled Formula 2 feature race at Monza.
Having qualified on pole, the Hitech GP driver was passed for the lead by both Oliver Goethe and Joshua Duerksen at different stages of a safety car-disrupted contest, but he would eventually finish 3.6 seconds clear of AIX Racing’s Duerksen, who prevailed in a frenetic final-lap battle for second with Red Bull junior Pepe Marti.
A good start enabled Browning to initially gain a clear advantage at the front, while DAMS’ Kush Maini was slow away from the inside of the front-row and was shuffled back to sixth. Maini tried to reclaim fifth from Marti’s Campos Racing team-mate Arvid Lindblad on lap two, but contact between the pair exiting the first chicane sent him off the road and he tumbled further down the order.
MP Motorsport’s Goethe prevailed in a scrap for second with Duerksen on the first lap and soon reeled in Browning, and he used his DRS to sweep past into the lead at the beginning of lap three. He gave up the advantage four laps later by being the first to make his mandatory pistop, and he rejoined with a clear track in front of him – while Roman Stanek and Browning went wheel-to-wheel at the front.
But the safety car would soon undo Goethe’s hopes after Alex Dunne was sent crashing into the barriers by Lindblad, who slammed into the back the McLaren junior under braking for the Ascari chicane. That would leave Goethe down in eighth after the rest of the field had pitted during the caution period.
Browning led from Stanek when the track returned to green on lap 11, while AIX’s Cian Shields crashed into the barriers before the action had even resumed. Carrying front-wing damage from his incident with Dunne, Lindblad locked up into turn one and collected Stanek, putting both drivers out of the race and bringing out the safety car once more.
Racing briefly got back underway approaching the halfway stage of the 30-lap contest, only for Trident’s Sami Meguetounif to lose control and fly off the road, causing another caution period – but there was enough time for Duerksen to take the lead away from Browning into the first chicane.
Duerksen remained ahead at the third restart on lap 17 but, having remained in close quarter, Browning reclaimed the lead two laps later. The British racer eventually edged his way out of DRS range and took advantage of the late battle for second to pull further clear.
Marti completed a feisty move on Van Amersfoort Racing’s Rafael Villagomez for third in the closing stages before setting his sights on Duerksen. The Spaniard made a lunge into turn one on the final lap, but contact sent the pair off the road, and he then slowed to let Duerksen back through.
Having suffered minor front-wing damage, Marti was unable to get another opportunity and came home third, with Villagomez, Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli and Hitech’s Dino Beganovic all finishing close behind.
Fifth enabled Fornaroli to consolidate his points lead despite going off the road several times during the race, having lost a front-wing endplate during an early squabble with ART GP’s Victor Martins – another who would retire later on.
MP’s Richard Verschoor lost second in the standings to Browning by coming home one place behind Prema’s Gabriele Mini in eighth, with Mini’s team-mate Sebastian Montoya and VAR’s John Bennett completing the top 10. Goethe had a late excursion while battling Montoya and finished 16th.
Featured image credit: Formula 2 on X
