Zhou capitalises on Armstrong retirement to win the second Sprint Race at the Yas Marina Circuit

Embed from Getty Images

Guanyu Zhou won his first race since the Feature Race at Silverstone as he looks to end his Formula 2 career on a positive note.

The Chinese driver controlled the race after Marcus Armstrong’s retirement as he won the race with Robert Shwartzman finishing in second and Ralph Boschung in third.

Starting Grid

Embed from Getty Images

Marcus Armstrong started from pole position after he finished the first Sprint Race in 10th with Ralph Boschung alongside the DAMS driver on the front row of the grid. Guanyu Zhou started third, Theo Pourchaire in fourth, Dan Ticktum in fifth, Liam Lawson in sixth, Robert Shwartzman in seventh, Oscar Piastri in eighth, Felipe Drugovich in ninth and Jehan Daruvala in 10th.

Jack Doohan, after an impressive qualifying, starts from 11th with Juri Vips in 12th, Bent Viscaal in 13th, Roy Nissany in 14th, Christian Lundgaard in 15th, Guilherme Samaia in 16th, Clement Novalak in 17th, Alessio Deledda in 18th, Marino Sato in 19th, Olli Caldwell in 20th, Jake Hughes in 21st and Richard Verschoor in 22nd.

As It Happened

Embed from Getty Images

Armstrong got a good getaway as he held the lead into turn one with Boschung in second and Zhou in third. Shwartzman, Lawson and Piastri went three-wide but the trio stayed as they were. However, Piastri and Lawson battled for sixth as the duo went wide at turn five and lost positions.

On lap three, Zhou made the move for second as he overtook Boschung with Shwartzman up to fourth ahead of Ticktum.

Doohan overtook Pourchaire for ninth into turn six but the race was neutralised as the Virtual Safety Car was released as Deledda and Caldwell collided.

Moments later, the Safety Car was deployed as the HWA Racelab driver jumped out of his car and retired from the race.

Piastri was handed a five-second time penalty due to forcing Lawson wide on the opening lap as the green flag was waved once again on lap seven.

In the matters of corners, Nissany, Piastri and Vips went three-wide into turn nine and collided with the Safety Car deployed again as the F2 champion and the Hitech driver were the latest retirees.

On lap 11, the race got underway once more but leader Armstrong pulled to the side of the track and surrendered the race lead.

Nissany overtook Pourchaire for ninth as the Virtual Safety Car was released due to the stricken DAMS car. A lap later, the race got back underway with Shwartzman making the most of the restart to claim second.

Lawson and Nissany overtook Doohan within the space of a few corners as they relegated the F2 rookie down to ninth.

At the halfway point of the race, Zhou led the race with Shwartzman in second and Boschun in third. The Carlin duo of Ticktum and Daruvala ran fourth and fifth, Drugovich in sixth, Lawson in seventh, Nissany in eighth, Doohan in ninth and Lundgaard in 10th.

After being overtaken by the DAMS driver on lap 13, Doohan got back ahead of Nissany into turn five to move into the points.

Drugovich swooped around the outside of Daruvala at turn nine as he claimed fifth away from the winner of the first Sprint Race.

In the battle for ninth, Nissany and Lundgaard made contact as both drivers sustained damage which saw them pit for repairs.

Lawson made his way up to sixth on lap 20 as Zhou controlled the rest of the race and crossed the line first to win the second Sprint Race with Shwartzman finishing second and Boschung in third.

Ticktum, Drugovich, Lawson, Daruvala, Doohan, Pourchaire, Viscaal rounded out the top 10.

What’s Next?

After retiring from the race, Oscar Piastri will look to cap a championship-winning weekend with a victory in the Feature Race as he starts from pole position. F2 rookie Jack Doohan lines up alongside his compatriot on the front row and will look to win his first-ever race in Formula 2.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt

[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”105″ heading=”Other Sports” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”1072″ heading=”News” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]