Hitech complete a one-two as Nikita Mazpein wins the 2020 F2 Tuscan Grand Prix

Nikita Mazepin claims victory in the F2 Tuscan Grand Prix as safety cars cost Christian Lungaard in the final few laps.

Starting Grid

A first pole for Lundgaard saw the Dane start on the front row alongside Dan Ticktum. Championship leader Callum Ilott qualified in third with Marcus Armstong joining the Brit on the second row. Felipe Drugovich was able to qualify fifth and Jehan Daruvala an impressive sixth. Luca Ghiotto in seventh, Robert Shwartzman in eighth, Jack Aitken in ninth and Juri Vips rounded off the top ten.

Championship challenger Yuki Tsunoda was only able to qualify P11 as Louis Deletraz qualified P12. Guanyu Zhou qualified P13 as he may go on the alternate strategy with Nikita Mazepin in P14. Mick Schumacher’s lap was only good for P15 with Pedro Piquet in P16. The Trident pair of Marino Sato and Roy Nissany qualified P17 and P18 respectively with the BWT HWA Racelab pair of Artem Markelov and Giuliano Alesi in P19 and P20. Nobuharu Matsushita and Guilherme Samaia qualified at the back of the grid in P21 and P22.

And It’s Lights Out And Away We Go

Lundgaard made a strong start as did Ticktum, but Callum Ilott was swallowed up in the pile and moved down to seventh. Luca Ghiotto moved up to third, passing the Brit and Marcus Armstrong.

Juri Vips conceded his final points position as Mazpin moved his silver Hitech car up four positions into tenth place.

Armstrong moved a place backward to fifth place as the MP Motorsport of Felipe Drugovich moved passed the Australian.

Ilott joined Drugovich with a move down the start/finish straight and past the Campos of Jack Aitken into sixth place.

Another position was made by Mazepin as he risked an overtake on the inside line at turn one, but it paid off and the Russian moved past Jehan Daruvala and into ninth place.

Ilott lined up another move to regain the positions he lost at the start, as the Championship leader moved past Armstrong and into fifth place.

The race leader, Lundgaard, pitted in for the hard Pirelli tyre after his soft tyres started to fall away.

Ghiotto moved past Ticktum and into the lead of his home race. The Italian started in seventh and moved up six places from the start.

Ghiotto and Ticktum then peeled into the pits, leaving Ilott and Drugovich to contest for the lead. The Brit gained on the Brazilian and moved past him into the lead.

At the halfway point of the race, Nikita Mazepin lead the race with Juri Vips in second and Guanyu Zhou in third, Mick Schumacher was in fourth, Louis Deletraz in fifth, Robert Shwartzman in sixth, Artem Markelov in seventh, Roy Nissany in eighth, Marino Sato in ninth and Christian Lundgaard in tenth after he made his stop.

Shwartzman made a very early pit-stop for the hard runners on lap 17 as the Prema Racing driver looked to have a technical problem.

Lundgaard dispatched Sato with an easy move at turn one as the Dane moved into eighth place. Shwartzman then retired from the race with a technical issue, causing the Championship contenders to lose out on points that will be very valuable in the latter stages of the season.

Lundgaard was in the lead with Ghiotto in second and Ticktum in third. Nissany held up Ilott as the Championship leader moved past Nisaany as he went into the pits, but that hold up from Nissany allowed Yuki Tsunoda to close up on Ilott and moved into fourth.

Giuliano Alesi retired from the race with a problem and the Virtual Safety Car was put in place.

After a few laps of the Virtual Safety Car, the full Safety Car was deployed as the field bunched up.

But then Ticktum made contact with Tsunoda and Schumacher collided with Aitken, meaning the Safety Car was deployed again.

Ilott peeled into the pits due to front-wing damage which dropped the Uni-Virtuosi driver to the back of the grid.

Five laps remained, Lundgaard in first, Ghiotto in second, Mazepin in third, Tsunoda in fourth, Deletraz in fifth, Schumacher in sixth, Vips in seventh, Drugovich in eighth, Markelov in ninth and Ticktum in tenth.

Safety Car ended on lap 31 with the driver’s having three laps left to try and gain some positions after the restart.

From third to first, Mazepin moved past Lundgaard and Ghiotto into the lead of the race.

All of Lundgaard’s hard work was undone as the ART driver dropped further down the grid. But this came to Mazepin’s advantage as he held on for the victory.