What a way to start the season! The pole-sitter Boschung took his first win on the 96th time of asking with a 10-second gap to the rest of the field. There were battles taking place across the field until the very last lap. A very promising opening to what is no doubt going to be a very good season of FIA Formula 2.
After a sensational lap from Pourchaire in yesterday's qualifying he started 10th. Ralph Boschung started in reverse grid pole position alongside Roman Stanek. After a disappointing Qualifying for the Aussie driver, Jack Doohan started in P17 on the hard tyre.
The lights went out and the action was underway instantly. The two DAMS drivers were getting their elbows out against each other, allowing Boschung to build a comfortable lead. The Czech rookie, Stanek, was clearly struggling to get to grips with his Trident car at the beginning of the race. Martins and Pourchaire made light work of the struggling Stanek, as they dominated the early laps making their way to P3 and P6 respectively by the end of lap 4. Boschung was still sitting comfortably out front, slowly eeking out a respectable gap.
Pourchaire wasn’t done making his way up the grid as in the early laps, the driver-car combination seemed unstoppable. Diving down the inside of the Leclerc to put himself fourth. Not only did the Monegasque lose a place, but he was also dealt a 10-second stop-go penalty for a start procedure infringement, along with Hadjar.
As the race settled down, there was a great battle brewing for the second-place spot, held by Iwasa. Martins, the french rookie, put the pressure on the Red bull junior and by lap 13 he had got the job done and moved into P2. The battle between Martins and Iwasa allowed Pouchaire to catch up and put even more pressure on the Japanese driver. Pourchaire wasn’t the only one capitalising on the battle, Hauger sat back and waited for the two drivers to wear their tyres before making a move to get past the both of them. Further back, Zane Maloney dived up the inside of Ollie Bearman at Turn 1 for 12th and began to close the gap to his Rodin Carlin teammate Enzo Fittipaldi.
Boschung was making it look easy at the front of the field building a 5s gap by lap 20. After failing to get past Iwasa, Pourchaire began to struggle with his tyres and Daruvala could smell blood. The MP driver had clearly saved some life in his soft tyres, allowing him to bring the fight to the struggling Frenchman. Whilst Pourchaire was able to fend off the attack behind him, his teammate was coming under pressure from Dennis Hauger who had slowly been catching the Rookie ART driver. The experience came out on top, as the MP driver utilised what little grip was left in his tyres to get past the rookie at turn 11 on the second to last lap.
The race finished with Boschung taking his maiden F2 win. Finally, the Campos driving getting some luck after what was no doubt a difficult year after injury last year. Iwasa was able to cling onto fourth ahead of Pourchaire and Daruvala. Maini secures more points for Campos in seventh, as Fittipaldi takes the final point on offer in eighth.
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