Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi produced a stunning double overtake to win a Formula 2 feature race turned on its head by a mid-race safety car period in Jeddah
Ollie Bearman’s Formula 1 call-up by Ferrari resulted in Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini being promoted to pole, and the Alpine academy member made a good start to lead DAMS driver Jak Crawford into turn one.
Fittipaldi held on to third despite a first-corner challenge from Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who had made a great launch from fifth on the grid, with an incident further down the field triggering a safety car period.
Red Bull junior Pepe Marti lost control on the exit of turn two and then made contact with Paul Aron and Franco Colapinto, who were both able to continue, and was then collected by the hapless Roman Stanek who immediately retired along with Marti. Invicta’s Gabriel Bortoleto was soon out as well, having suffered an issue at the start before pulling off the circuit.
Racing resumed on lap four, with Maini quickly building a one-second advantage over Crawford, while Victor Martins faced an early challenge for fifth from Dennis Hauger and Isack Hadjar.
Crawford came in for his mandatory pitstop at the end of lap six, as did Hauger, while Martins was passed on track by both Hadjar and DAMS’s Juan Manuel Correa.
Maini made his stop next time by and retained the net lead, with Fittipaldi and Antonelli also pitting and rejoining ahead of Crawford, who was forced off track by Antonelli when trying a move around the outside.
Crawford then squeezed his way past the Mercedes-AMG junior, who tried to fight back at the start of the next lap only to run wide at turn one and then eventually lost a further place to Hadjar.
The net lead of the race changed hands approaching the halfway stage, with Fittipaldi producing a series of quick laps following his pitstop to hunt down and pass Maini for fourth.
Meanwhile the still-to-stop Correa held the overall lead from Hitech GP’s Amaury Cordeel and PHM Racing’s Taylor Barnard, and the trio then benefitted from the appearance of the safety car for a second time on lap 15 when Williams Academy driver Franco Colapinto spun into the barriers at turn one.
With officials instructing all cars to drive through the pitlane while officials dealt with Colapinto’s stricken car, Cordeel and Barnard were able to make their mandatory stops and maintain their positions in second and third behind Correa who opted not to make his stop.
The race resumed with 10 laps to go, with Cordeel snatching the lead from Correa two laps later. Cordeel kept the pressure on Correa, who took a defensive line into turn one on the next tour, but Fittipaldi used the racing line to out-brake the pair of them on the outside and grab the lead.
From there the Brazilian capitalised on the squabbles that continued behind to pull clear and take his first feature race victory by 7.895 seconds.
Cordeel ran off track while trying to pass Correa with five laps to go, losing out on rejoining to Maini, who had earlier taken fourth away from Barnard. Maini moved up to second once Correa finally made his mandatory stop and remained there until the finish
The battle for third went all the way to the chequered flag, with Crawford diving up the inside of Cordeel at the final corner before Hauger swept around the outside to snatch the final podium spot. Crawford edged Cordeel in a drag race to the line for fourth while Antonelli, who had earlier lost out in a feisty battle with Hauger, a further 0.5s in sixth.
Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney retained the points lead after climbing from 16th on the grid to seventh. Trident’s Richard Verschoor, who was disqualified from Friday’s sprint race for a technical infringement with his car which handed victory to Hauger, finished eighth ahead of VAR’s Rafael Villagomez.
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins scored the final point in 10th, despite a late incident where he ran into the back of Aron, who came home 11th after being spun around.
Barnard slipped back to 13th, one place behind team-mate Joshua Durksen, with Correa 14th ahead of Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata who served a 10s stop/go penalty during the race for starting in an incorrect grid position.
Hadjar retired following the second safety car period after his car suffered what appeared to be the same issue that put him out of the sprint race. ART’s Zak O’Sullivan retired late on after spinning at turn one while battling with Villagomez.
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd
