F2 Italy: Bearman blasts to sprint race victory

Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman drove a controlled race in the F2 Monza sprint race to back up his earlier success in the Austrian sprint outing and top the podium for the second time this year.

Having started from eighth, this following a five-place grid penalty for causing a collision last time out at Spa-Francorchamps, Bearman swiftly climbed the order, going wheel to wheel with ART driver Victor Martins before clinching the lead when Pepe Marti (Campos) locked up under braking for the Rettifilo chicane on lap seven.

For the remaining distance, the Prema driver looked comfortable managing the gap to Martins, with the finishing margin 1.6 seconds.

As Marti fell back to fourth, Joshua Durksen claimed his second podium of the season – his previous silverware coming in the Imola feature race.

The race got off to a frantic start with the safety car called into action before the end of the first lap. On the run to the Rettifilo chicane, Zak O’Sullivan (ART) moved across the track in the pack and made contact with the rear of debutant Oliver Goethe (MP Motorsport) – the German in for new Williams F1 driver Franco Colapinto.

As O’Sullivan crawled to a halt, Mercedes-bound Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema) got caught up in the melee, and suffered significant front-end damage, although he would continue to finish in 18th after pitting.

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Isack Hadjar (Campos) had arrived in Monza with a 41-point lead over rival Paul Aron (Hitech), who sits third in the championship, but was enduring a tough sprint race in 13th for the most part following a tardy start.

Aron had made a far stronger launch and was lapping in seventh and looking to progress when an overly ambitious move on feature race polesitter Zane Maloney saw him damage his front wing and drop to the back of the pack.

Second in the title battle is Gabriel Bortoleto, and despite crashing in qualifying and cementing himself to the back of the grid for both races, he was arguably the driver of the day as he recovered to eighth to score a single point, reducing Hadjar’s overall margin.

But with Aron and Hadjar lining up second and third for the feature race, Bortoleto faces a far sterner test to limit the damage on Sunday.

Such has been the challenge of Bearman’s difficult season that his victory moves him on to 44 points and 14th in the standings only – a staggering 121 points off the summit.

Monza – Sprint race

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