SPRINT RACE: Antonelli charges through the rain for maiden F2 win as title contenders hit trouble

PREMA Racing's Andrea Kimi Antonelli was in formidable form in the toughest of conditions to secure his first FIA Formula 2 victory through torrential rain. Zane Maloney finished second for Rodin Motorsport while Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto made a final corner pass on teammate Kush Maini to finish P3.

Championship protagonists Paul Aron and Isack Hadjar both failed to score points as each suffered a retirement on Lap 8 of an action-filled race.

AS IT HAPPENED

After a Formation Lap behind the Safety Car, racing got underway with a rolling start with heavier rain closing in quickly. Antonelli retained his lead, but teammate Oliver Bearman was battling Gabriel Bortoleto in the opening corners and the pair made slight contact, leaving the Briton with a broken front wing endplate in the fight for fifth.

Bortoleto was undeterred and rounded Jak Crawford on the outside of Copse and into Maggotts with a brave move for P4. Torrential rain arrived to close out the first lap as Antonelli built up a 2.5s lead over Maloney in second.

With damage to his front wing, Bearman dropped down the order, losing places to Franco Colapinto, Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins in the space of half a lap, falling to ninth as a result.

A Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 3 to recover the endplate of Bearman.

As racing resumed, Paul Aron caught his title rival napping to secure P10 from Isack Hadjar on the approach to Maggotts and Becketts. Zak O’Sullivan relegated the Frenchman to 12th into Abbey at the end of the lap, before Hadjar then ran off the road at Turn 1, losing two more spots to teammate Josep María Martí and Ritomo Miyata, putting him 14th.

The Safety Car was deployed on Lap 4 but with rain increasing, the Red Flag was then thrown.

After a brief pause in action to allow the rain to ease off, racing resumed entering Lap 7 with another rolling start and once again, Antonelli kept hold of the lead.

Martins had a great restart to move up to sixth with passes on both MP Motorsport drivers in the opening sector.

On Lap 8, contact between Martí and Championship leader Aron left both out of the race, while in a separate incident, Hadjar found himself in the gravel following a spin at Copse that put him on the sidelines also. Those events brought out another Safety Car.

Racing got back underway on Lap 13 with Antonelli leading comfortably once more while Bearman made a pass on Hauger at Turn 4 to secure eighth. Colapinto then moved ahead of Hauger into Brooklands and cleared Bearman after the Briton ran through the gravel at Copse, dropping him to 18th.

O’Sullivan was on the move next on Lap 14, rounding Colapinto on the outside of Copse for seventh position to continue his charge through the pack.

Onto Lap 16 and the Briton was attacking his teammate but contact between the pair at The Loop left Martins spinning and O’Sullivan with damage, putting both out of the race. Meanwhile, Bearman pulled to the side of the circuit on the Hangar Straight to bring out another Virtual Safety Car.

Back to racing conditions, Roman Stanek had been hustling Miyata for eighth and the Trident driver secured P8 from the Rodin driver with three laps to go.

Heading into the penultimate lap, Colapinto looked to have cleared Crawford for fifth around the outside of Stowe, but the DAMS Lucas Oil driver fought back into Abbey to retake the spot.

Onto the final lap and the all-Invicta battle for the last spot on the podium could hardly be split, the pair almost colliding several times on a frantic final tour.

Up ahead though, Antonelli was uncatchable, and the Italian won his first F2 race by over eight seconds to Zane Maloney in second.

Into the final three corners and the Invictas went wheel-to-wheel, with Bortoleto taking the final podium spot in a drag race to the line by 0.3s from Maini.

Colapinto secured fifth with a final lap pass on Crawford, while Hauger and Stanek rounded out the points in seventh and eighth places respectively.

KEY QUOTE – Andrea Kimi Antonelli, PREMA Racing

“Got my first win, really happy with the result. It was a difficult race in difficult conditions, but we managed pretty well and I’m really happy to bring home the first win of the season.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

It all closes up in the Drivers’ Championship, with leader Paul Aron and second-place Isack Hadjar failing to add to their tallies. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver leads the way on 117 to the Campos Racing driver’s 108. Gabriel Bortoleto closes in on the pair, now on 91 points in third. Zane Maloney is fourth on 83, while Franco Colapinto moves onto 79 points in fifth position.

Over in the Teams’ Standings, Invicta Racing take over the lead on 148 points, while Campos Racing and MP Motorsport are now tied on points with 143 apiece in second and third places. Hitech Pulse-Eight are just one point back in fourth, while Rodin Motorsport round out the top five spots on 102.

UP NEXT

The Silverstone Feature Race is set to get underway at 09:55 local time on Sunday morning. Isack Hadjar goes from Pole for Campos Racing.