Formula 2: Daruvala takes first win of the season

Felipe Drugovic already started Sunday’s Formula 2 race as the new champion of the series, starting fourth.

Basically, the Brazilian has already done his job for the season and could well afford to relax a bit, while Liam Lawson and Marcus Armstrong, who started from 2nd and 3rd position, still had pretty good chances of reclaiming their position in the standings. improve individual standings. , and for both New Zealanders still appreciate every point earned. But events at the Monza track developed in such a way that it didn’t work out.

On the pole was Jack Duane’s light blue car, who took at least 3rd place in the championship, and if successful even vice-championship, and it’s clear the Australian was in the most combative mood.

It can be added that Tatiana Calderon did not go to the start – the consequences of yesterday’s accident were affected and the doctors did not allow her to participate in the race.

When the cars were about to go into the warm-up lap, Duane for some reason didn’t manage to pull away right away, but after a few seconds he started to drive anyway, and in this situation nothing prevented him from returning to the first starting position. However, this didn’t save him – obviously his Dallara had some sort of malfunction before the start, so when the traffic lights went out, the Australian drove very slowly and immediately lost several positions.

The race was led by Lawson, Drugovich made his way into second position, ahead of Armstrong, but after the first chicane, the cars of Theo Purscher and Ralph Boschung collided – the Swiss did not fit into the corner, cut the chicane, but somehow very risky returned. Both flew off the track and in the turmoil that started, Pursheru was also kicked by Luca Ghiotto, who was driving behind it.

The accident was very beautiful and of course resulted in the appearance of the safety car. By this time, the pack had already lost six cars, as another notable incident occurred about the same time: before the second chicane, Jehan Daruvala hooked up Jack Duane’s car, it lost stability, ricocheted into Logan Sargent’s Dallara, which also led until retirement as an Australian, and American.

The restart was given on lap five, on the braking for the first corner Armstrong managed to get ahead of Drugovich and for the second chicane Ayuumu tried to overtake Iwasa Yuri Vips but failed.

The Estonian, on the other hand, had a successful maneuver against Richard Fershod at the end of the circle, moving into third position and had already started overtaking Drugovich.

But here too the yellow flags were raised, the safety car took off again – this time due to the departure of Kalan Williams at the Ascari chicane after contact with David Beckman’s car. At the same time, the fence was seriously damaged, and the task of the marshals became more complicated: it was necessary not only to evacuate the Trident team car, but also to restore the protective barriers.

It became clear that it is impossible to do this when the peloton is on track and the safety car is following. The race was stopped by red flags. But the order of the cars on the track had changed by this time, as some riders managed to visit the pits and make their mandatory pit stops.

Fershor moved up to first position, Marino Sato moved up to second, but they haven’t changed tires yet. Of those already on fresh tyres, Jehan Daruwala was in the most favorable position, being one of the first to enter the pits as soon as the safety car appeared on track for the second time, moving him up to third.

It became known about the decision of the stewards to give a 10-second penalty to Marcus Armstrong, who decided too late to enter the pit lane and committed a clear violation, in which he passed the restrictive column not on the right, but on the left. around the. At the same time, he was in fifth position and it was clear that he would eventually roll back all the way. In addition, a 10-second Stop & Go came to him – already before speeding in the pitlane.

The race resumed behind the safety car and on lap 11 the fight resumed. Armstrong, before returning to the pits to serve the penalty, managed to stay ahead of Iwasu. But the Japanese couldn’t stop Frederick Vesti’s attack, so he lost another position and was now fifth.

On lap 14, Yuri Vips attacked Liam Lawson in the second chicane but he wouldn’t give up his position, there was contact between the cars, Liam turned and he was off the track.

At the start of the next round, Clement Novalak tried to attack Ayumu Iwasu, but without success, and had to cut the first chicane, after which he lost several places.

When half the distance was over, the first five looked like this: Ferskhor – Daruvala – Sato – Vesti – Iwasa. Fittipaldi followed the Japanese and Vips overtook him, but the stewards, who had investigated the incident in which he knocked Lawson off the track, decided to “reward” the Est with a 10-second Stop & Go.

With 10 laps to go, Fershhor remained in the lead, but he still had one pit stop to go, as did Sato. The Japanese entered the pits on lap 21, only to re-enter the track on lap 11. It can be assumed that if Richard also went for fresh tires he would be at the bottom of the top ten at best.

So the most likely candidate for victory in this situation was Jehan Daruvala, but for that he still had to cross the finish line and fend off the attacks of Frederic Vesti, who got closer to Indian driver Prema Racing.

It looked like Daruvala couldn’t go any faster and Vesti was only half a second behind, but he in turn tried to pressure Iwas, who could at least climb the podium, but wasn’t averse to regaining one more position.

On lap 25 Fershhor came to the pits and returned to the track in tenth place, with Daruvala in the lead. At the same time, Vesti, who had to repel Iwasa’s attacks, was already more than a second and a half behind the Indian.

Drugovic, who drove at the end of the top ten, defeated Amaury Kordil to climb to 7th position – on Sunday the newly crowned Formula 2 champion had to settle for just a few earned points.

Meanwhile, the eventful race was approaching the finish line and Jehan Daruwala was the first to see the checkered flag, more than two seconds ahead of everyone else. For the Indian, this is the first win of the season, especially since he won it on the Italian circuit, home of his Prema team.

Second place went to Frederic Vesti, third to Ayumu Iwasa, Enzo Fittipaldi finished fourth and Dennis Hauger rounded out the top five.

The first five of the individual classification after the stage in Monza changed slightly: Iwasa climbed to 4th place, ahead of Jack Duane, who had some bad luck today.

The season finale will not take place anytime soon, only on November 19-20 in Abu Dhabi, while Pursher, who occupies the second line, has 164 points, while Duane and Daruwala, who share 5th and 6th place, have 126 each. means that while Logan Sargent, Ayumu Iwasa, as well as Duane and Daruvala retain math chances for the vice championship. Although, of course, for this they have to be very lucky, and Pursher – on the contrary. But the Frenchman had two dropouts in the last five races and only earned a few points, so nothing can be ruled out.

Race results

pilot Team Time difference
1. D. Daruvala prema 1:06’39.193
2. F. Vestic ART Grand Prix +1,970
3. A. Iwasa DAMS +5.738
4. E. Fittipaldic Charouz Racing System +6.491
5. D. Hauger prema +7.249
6. D. Beckman Van Amersfoort Racing +7.801
7. F. Drugovich MP Motorsport +10.502
8. A. Kordil Van Amersfoort Racing +12.738
9. K. Novalak MP Motorsport +27.950
10. R. Fershor Trident +35.184
11. Yu.Vips Hitech GP +45,692
12. M. Sato Virtuoso +47.522
13. Mr. Armstrong Hitech GP +54.718
14. L. Lawson carlin +1:31.534
– C.Williams Trident Exit
– D. Duane Virtuoso meeting
– L. Sargent carlin meeting
– T. Pursher ART Grand Prix meeting
– L. Giotto DAMS meeting
– R. Boschung Campos Racing meeting
– O. Caldwell Campos Racing meeting
– T. Calderon Charouz Racing System didn’t start

Source: F1 News

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