Formula 2: Saturday Sprint at Monza Vesti won

Following the qualifying results, Ralph Boschung started from pole in the sprint and set a 10th fastest time yesterday, but Frederik Vesti, one of the main contenders for the title, started the race on Saturday from third position and before the start he ensured that today he meant to take risks.

He successfully fulfilled his promise already in the first corners of the Monza circuit: he started perfectly, immediately attacked Boschung, forced him to make a mistake, moved to 2nd position and a few seconds later easily overtook Richard Fershhor and took the lead.

But Amaury Kordil, one of the last drivers of the Dutch team Van Amersfoort Racing, failed to keep the car on track, after which it came to a stop, although he suffered no external damage.

The safety car drove off.

It should also be noted that Theo Purscher, the leader of the individual classification, even before the yellow flags appeared on the track, managed to regain three positions, moving up to 7th place, and at the restart he was ahead of Isaac Hadjar and drove already sixth.

Vesti was in the lead, but Fershor clearly couldn’t keep up with the pace he had set and on lap six he lost almost a second. Kush Maini followed the Dutchman, but stayed even further behind him, but Victor Marten already attacked him with all his might. Braking late before Turn 1, he famously got ahead of Indian driver Campos, but on the same lap Purscher finally overtook Jack Crawford at the Della Roggia chicane and had already made it into the top five.

It was important for Purscher not to let Vesti score many points if he couldn’t get ahead of him, so it was necessary to get as close to the race leader as possible. His next target was Marten, his compatriot and teammate ART, but he was not only fast, he even set the best lap of the race.

Thanks to this pace, Victor overtook Richard Vershore and braking very late into the same Turn 1 ahead of him, moved him up to 2nd position. But as soon as he had done so, the safety car pulled out again, this time due to a collision between the cars of Roy Nissani and Juan Manuel Correa. If the American was able to continue, the Israeli rider’s Dallara turned and simply blocked half the track at the second chicane.

It is clear that the gaps were being leveled, which only benefited Marten and Purscher, but the leading Frederick Vesti, who had noticeably increased his lead by the time of this incident, did not like it very much.

On the restart, Kushu managed to get ahead of Maini Pursher, but recovered beautifully in the second chicane.

Hauger failed to keep the car on track in the battle for position with Hadzhar, he was forced to cross the gravel road at full speed but was able to return, although he missed several rivals and rolled back outside the top ten.

With one lap to go in the sprint, Vesti was in the lead, but Marten was only half a second behind and was ready to use every opportunity to attack. Fershor in turn chased the Frenchman and Purscher nearly overtook him.

On braking before Turn 1 on the final lap, Hayjar was ahead of his Hitech teammate Crawford, but it was a battle for sixth position. In addition, Isaac was handed a five-second time penalty earlier in the race, so it was not destined to keep him on this line of protocol anyway.

On the 21st lap, the top four riders rode at such a pace that Victor Martin again showed the best time, but still couldn’t overtake the leader, and Frederic Vesti was the first to see the checkered flag, having taken his fifth victory had achieved. of the season. He failed to return to the championship lead, but he cut the deficit to 9 points from Pursher, who finished fourth today.

Thanks to the 2nd place in the sprint, Victor Marten was also able to get very close to Ayumu Iwasa, who currently occupies 3rd place in the individual classification, but retired today due to technical problems. The French driver ART has something to fight for, as the 3rd place at the end of the season in F2 entitles him to the coveted FIA super license, and Martin is included in the Alpine youth program and of course dreams of it sooner or later by. he gets the chance to go to Formula 1.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, especially as there are still three races before the end of the season: tomorrow in Monza and two in the November finale in Abu Dhabi.