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New Zealander Liam Lawson claimed his maiden F2 victory after a difficult battle with Jehan Daruvala which saw the Indian finish second and David Beckmann complete the podium in third.
Starting Grid
After Jur Vips’ disqualification from qualifying, Theo Pourchaire moved up to 10th and took the reverse grid pole position alongside David Beckmann in second.
Liam Lawson and Oscar Piastri lined up on the second row P3 and P4 respectively. Jehan Daruvala started on the third row in fifth alongside Richard Verschoor in sixth.
Dan Ticktum is seventh with the top three qualifiers from yesterday, Felipe Drugovich, Christian Lundgaard and Guanyu Zhou in P8, P9 and P10.
Robert Shwartzman moved up to 11th with Ralph Boschung in P12. The two DAMS of Marcus Armstrong and Roy Nissany in 13th and 14th. Bent Viscaal in 15th, Lirim Zendeli in 16th, Guilherme Samaia in 17th, Marino Sato in 18th, Matteo Nannini in 19th and Gianluca Petecof in 20th.
At the back of the grid, Alessio Deledda moved from 22nd to 21st with Juri Vips starting at the back of the grid.
As It Happened
Lawson had a fantastic getaway from third as he took the race lead with all the drivers heading into turn one unscathed.
After the first lap of the race, the New Zealander lead away from Pourchaire in second with Beckman sliding down to third in the process.
Ticktum tried to overtake Drugovich but in the process hit the MP Motorsport of Verschoor with the Dutchman spinning and retiring from the race.
The Virtual Safety Car was brought out as a result of Armstrong stopping at the side of the track out of the exit of turn one.
The DAMS driver retired alongside Boschung who collided with the Kiwi as both of them ruined their chances of scoring any points in the first race of the season.
Samaia was given a five-second penalty for a VSC infringement alongside Ticktum getting a five-second penalty for the collision with Verschoor.
Daruvala moved into third after a fantastic moved round the outside of Beckmann into turn four with the Indian chasing the leading pair of Lawson and Pourchaire.
At the halfway point of the race, the Hitech of Lawson lead the race with Pourchaire not far back in second and Daruvala in third. Beckmann slipped down to fourth, Shwartzman in fifth, Lundgaard in sixth, Piastri in seventh, Ticktum in eighth, Zhou in ninth and Zendeli rounded off the top 10.
The ART of Pourchaire a lap later would pull over to the side as the Frenchman’s car looked to have lost power. Daruvala inherited second with Beckmann back on the podium in third.
Another Virtual Safety Car was released after Pourchaire headed to his first podium finish in F2 but had to retire from the race.
Piastri recovered back to fifth as the Aussie made a move down the inside of Lundgaard into turn four and the Prema driver was on the hunt of his teammate Shwartzman in the other Prema car.
With five laps to go, Lawson still lead the race with Daruvala chasing the Kiwi in second and Beckmann was about nine seconds behind in third. Shwartzman was fourth with Prema teammate Piastri in fifth. Lundgaard was sixth, Ticktum in seventh, Zhou in eighth, Samaia in ninth and Zendeli in 10th.
Lawson was able to hold onto his lead and saw the chequered flag taking his maiden F2 victory. Daruvala did well to finish second and push the Kiwi all the way with Beckmann finishing third.
Prema recorded a four and fifth finish with Shwartzman ahead of his rookie teammate. Lundgaard was sixth with Zhou in seventh and Ticktum able to hold onto the final points position in eighth. Zendeli got two points after he recorded the fastest lap and finished in ninth with Vips finishing in 10th after starting 22nd and gaining reverse grid pole for this evening’s race.
Viscaal finished just outside the top 10 in 11th and Samaia dropped out of the top 10 after his five-second penalty which dropped him down to 12th. Nissany finished P13, Nannini in P14, Sato in P15, Drugovich in P16 with Petecof and Deledda the final two finishes in P17 and P18.
Pourchaire, Armstrong, Boschung and Verschoor were the four retirements from the race as they will look to make amends from their bad luck in the first Sprint Race and have a good evening in the second Sprint Race.
What’s Next?
The drivers will have the ability to compete for more points as they set to return to the track this evening for the second Sprint Race.
After his charge from 22nd on the grid in the first Sprint Race, Juri Vips will line up on pole position alongside Lirim Zendeli.
The Estonian will look to have a good performance in this race after his chances were ruined this morning due to being disqualified from qualifying.
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