Formula 2: Clement Novalak wins for the first time

Saturday’s Formula 2 sprint at Zandvoort was canceled due to bad weather and accidents, with both Campos Racing cars being seriously damaged, for example, but the Spanish team made a truly heroic effort and by Sunday the equipment had been restored.

At the same time, weather forecasts again promised precipitation with an 80 percent probability, but by the time the weekend’s main race began, the weather was back to normal. However, the tarmac remained wet in places, leading the peloton to the warm-up lap behind the safety car and a start en route. That’s just the car of Brit Joshua Mason, the debutant of the PHM Racing by Charouz team, could not move and the marshals pushed her into the pit lane.

In theory, starting on the road is a precaution to avoid unnecessary collisions, but it didn’t help. Already in the first corners the drivers tried to act more aggressively than the condition of the track and the temperature of the rubber allowed, and it all ended in trouble, including for Jack Duane, who failed to keep the car on the track, and for the Australian ended it all with a crash and a car crashing into the barriers.

Frederic Vesti was in a similar situation – he was also turned around, but at least he was able to save the car, although he lost many positions. Oliver Berman also rolled back, who was knocked off the track by Juan Manuel Correa, for which he was subsequently given a 10-second time penalty.

The safety car took off, but a restart soon followed, with Ayumu Iwasa and Kush Maini colliding. The Japanese made a braking error in the first corner and the Indian driver Campos was unable to avoid contact with the DAMS team car.

Iwasa stayed on track, but now he was only 14th and Maini had to pit to replace the nose cone.

After just seven laps, the first pit stops began – the racers who pitted first expected that an early move to harder tires would allow them to gain something.

After a few laps, Jack Crawford also went for fresh tyres, starting from pole position and leading relatively calmly in the early laps. Now he is back on the track in 10th place.

After ten laps Clement Novalak was leading, Richard Fershhor second and Isaac Hajjar third. On the same lap, the leader of the personal classification Theo Purscher also visited the pits, but first on his way to the pit lane he almost collided with a car that drove into the pits ahead of him, but then he got lucky and managed to avoid contact.

Secondly, the Sauber Academy student did not hold the car in turn seven, as the cold rubber did not provide the necessary grip, flew off the track and crashed into the barriers. And soon his main rival, Frederic Vesti, also flew off the track, but for a different reason: it seems that Prema’s mechanics had not properly secured the rear wheels of his car, and they just fell off on the way!

Thus, the two main contenders for the title fell out of the race. Naturally, the safety car left again. The top five behind him looked like this: Novalak – Crawford – Maloney – Fershhor – Victor Martin.

Of these, such a strange development of the events on the Dutch circuit was in his favor: the meetings of Duane, Vesti and Purcher enabled the French ART driver to close the gap with the leaders of the individual classification. Before this stage he took 5th place in the championship, but today he could climb at least one line higher, and if he was lucky, then two, if not three. Looking ahead, let’s say things turned out differently.

When the track battle resumed on lap 17, Maloney immediately made an attempt to attack Crawford, and it was quite successful: the young racer from the island of Barbados came out in 2nd place!

At the same time, contact between Marten and Oliver Berman’s cars occurred, sending the Briton off the track and hooking onto the shredders, damaging the car. On the radio, in a very sharp form, he expressed everything that he thinks about the actions of his opponent, which he had already surpassed and moved to 5th place, but in the end he was forced to return to the pits and retire out of the race. It makes perfect sense for the stewards to investigate this episode.

With the first half of the distance behind, Novalak remained in the lead, closely followed by Maloney, and the two were already well over two seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. Crawford and Fershhor fought for the right to climb to the third step of the podium, and Marten was already putting pressure on the Dutchman.

Novalak added, recorded the best lap of the race and brought the lead to one and a half seconds, preventing Maloney from using DRS.

But even more interesting events took place at the end of the top ten, where Roy Nissany and Juan Manuel Correa battled. The American made a daring attack attempt, which was quite successful, but Nissan did not give up, counterattacked and returned to 10th position. However, Juan Manuel did not like this, he continued to push the opponent and eventually defeated him.

Less than 15 minutes before the end of the race, the stewards’ verdict was announced: Marten received a 10-second time penalty for mishandling Berman.

Novalak led confidently, already two and a half seconds ahead of Maloney, and it was felt that the opponent could not go at his pace. During the course of the broadcast, close-ups showed that the tires on Zane’s car were worn out, which is not surprising as he was one of the first to pit.

Closer to the finish, however, Maloney started to accelerate again, as Novalak’s tires weren’t in the best shape – but Zane had to add more as Crawford started to put pressure on him, who sensed a real chance to battle for 2nd place .

On the 35th lap, the American managed to get close to Maloney’s car – Novalak took advantage of the two facing each other and again increased the gap to over two seconds.

However, in the final stages of the race, those running in the top five apparently decided not to take too much of a risk, so they preferred to refrain from aggressive actions and stayed put. Clément Novalak won the race with his first victory and also earned a bonus point for the best lap – incidentally, it is only the second time this season that the Frenchman of the Trident squad has finished in the top ten – and today he finished immediately with 26 points !

Zane Maloney saw the checkered flag 2.1 seconds late and finished the race just 0.3 seconds behind Jack Crawford. Fourth place was taken by Dutchman Richard Fershhor, while fifth place went to Dennis Hauger. Marten finished fifth on the track, but was only placed on the 9th line of the protocol due to a penalty. However, his position in the individual standings has not changed, he remained in fifth place.

At the same time, none of the top four riders scored points – three of them retired and Iwasa finished 13th due to his own mistake.

The next stage of the youth series will take place in Monza in a week, and let’s hope that it will take place under a different scenario, and that the weather factor will not hinder the normal development of the events.

Racing results