Zach O’Sullivan records first victory in Formula 2

Zach O’Sullivan won the Formula 2 race in Monaco on Sunday. Together with him, Isaac Hadjar and Paul Aron climbed to the podium in the princely box.

At the start, pole holder Richard Ferschor retained the lead, and Victor Martin, who started second, pulled away very slowly and fell back to fourteenth position. Jack Crawford had a bad start – Maini sent him into the barrier at the hairpin and Crawford withdrew. The stewards deemed the episode a racing incident and did not fine Kush.

Kimi Antonelli started the race well and overtook Roman Stanek. Oliver Berman regained five positions and moved up to seventh.

On the fourth lap of forty-two, race leader Ferschor set the fastest time in an attempt to pull away from Hadjar, but Isaac managed to stay a second behind the Trident rider and responded with his fastest time on the next lap. In the seventh lap Paul Aron showed the best time.

At the end of the seventh lap, Amaury Cordil was the first to enter the pits for a mandatory pit stop. After replacing the tires, the mechanics noticed damage to the rear right suspension of the Belgian racer’s car. Kordil had to end the fight at this point.

On the ninth lap, Ferskhor regained his fastest time, bringing his lead over Hadjar to 1.2 seconds. Jose Maria Marti went to the pits to change the tires. After his pit stop, Campos was the last driver to return.

At the end of the fourteenth lap, the leader of the personal classification, Zane Maloney, went to the pits. The Rodin driver returned to the track ahead of Marty, who was driving the fastest lap of the race at the time. Jose Maria attacked Zane and passed Maloney on the climb to Turn 3. Another lap later, Enzo Fittipaldi made a mandatory pit stop.

At the end of the sixteenth lap, Oliver Berman made a pit stop. The Prema rider returned to the track in seventeenth place, ahead of Marty.

Gabriel Bortoleto, who had moved up to seventh place after Berman’s pit stop, pitted at the end of the eighteenth lap. A late stop put him back on track behind Berman.

In the nineteenth lap technical problems started with the car of the leading Ferschor. He lost speed, cut the chicane at the exit of the tunnel, but was then able to accelerate again.

On the next lap, Roman Stanek and Rafael Villagomez headed to the pits. Stanek went to get new tires and Villagomez went to replace the broken front wing. Rafael never returned to the track.

At the end of the 21st lap, Aron and Antonelli headed to the pits. Both returned to the track and maintained their positions relative to each other. Berman showed the best lap and was therefore ahead of Antonelli on the track. Kimi attacked his partner, they rode several bends side by side, but due to a more favorable trajectory, Berman was in the lead at the exit of the hairpin bend.

A lap later Hadjar and Franco Colapinto pitted, and at the end of 23rd Richard Ferschor. Dennis Hauger took the lead, while Ferschor returned to the track ahead of Hadjar. Isaac tried to attack Ferschor in the tunnel, but Richard was able to repel the attack. However, at the start of the next lap on the straight, Hadjar took the lead. Isaac moved up to ninth position, becoming the first of those who had already pitted.

Ferskhor’s problems continued: at the exit of the tunnel he pushed Aron off the track to maintain his position. On the starting line, Richard let Paul pass to avoid a penalty. But the stewards did not ignore Fershor’s early battle with Hadjar and handed the Trident driver a five-second penalty for gaining a lead by driving off the track.

The Ritomo Miata and Kush Maini made their pit stops on lap twenty-nine and fell outside the top ten. On the next lap, Correa and Saturday’s sprint winner, Taylor Barnard, pitted.

On the thirty-first lap, Richard Ferschor returned to the pits and retired – technical problems associated with power loss did not allow him to continue the race.

At the end of the thirty-second lap, Dennis Hauger went to the pits. The pack was led by Zach O’Sullivan, with Hauger returning to the track eighth behind Correa.

At the start of the thirty-fifth lap, only three riders did not stop in the pits: O’Sullivan, Martin and Joshua Duerksen, who led the peloton. They waited for the safety car to come out to make their mandatory pit stops.

At the end of the thirty-eighth lap, Viktor Martin pulled into the pits. The ART rider returned to the track in eleventh place. One lap later, Durksen, who was in second place, made his pit stop.

Durksen returned thirteenth, when leaving the pits he collided with Maloney’s car, which he did not see next to him, drove several hundred meters and stopped in turn four. Yellow flags appeared on the track and the virtual safety car mode was activated.

O’Sullivan took advantage of the opportunity and headed to the pits. The ART mechanics made a quick pit stop and Zach returned to the track with a lead, ahead of Hadjar! The team’s calculation to wait for a real or virtual safety car and make a pit stop was therefore justified.

At the end of the penultimate lap, the yellow flags turned green and O’Sullivan drove the race to his first win in Formula 2.

Isaac Hajjar finished five tenths behind the winner. The Campos rider was very angry and cursed on the radio because the victory had slipped through his fingers. Paul Aron’s third place allowed him to take the lead in the individual rankings. Dennis Hauger received an extra point for the fastest lap.

The sixth stage of the Formula 2 season will be held in Barcelona, ​​Spain from June 21 to 23.