In a race that had everyone watching (and some participating) with their hearts in their mouths, Jack Aitken clung onto his pole position to take a fulfilling home win, and was joined by fellow Brits Harrison Scott and Jake Hughes on the podium under the rare British sun. In finishing second, Scott (AVF) also claimed rookie victory.
The drama began right away, as Jehan Daruvala’s race met a terrifying end and the Indian rookie ended upside down in the tyre barrier having hit it straight on and flicking his car up in the air. No sooner had the cameras caught up with the stricken Fortec, two of the remaining Fortec machines collided, flinging Ferdinand Habsburg about 10 feet in the air before the Austrian plummeted back to the ground, the car rolling 360° in the rebound before sliding to a stop in pieces. Barnicoat was the other driver involved, sustaining heavy damage at the rear of the car. Thankfully, all drivers exited their car unaided and are ok and were the only retirements of the race.
As a result of the debris left on the track and to check all drivers were ok a red flag was brought out, bringing all drivers to a halt in the pitlane behind the safety car. O’Keeffe, who’d damaged his front wing in all the madness, was able to have it replaced during this break, allowing him to climb back up to 8th.
At the restart, Aitken and Scott held onto the positions, whilst behind them a fierce battle erupted between Oskoui and Jörg with Hughes holding on to pick up the pieces should they tangle themselves up. Following a few laps of intense to and fro, Jörg tried his luck gliding around the outside of Oskoui, and though he successfully passed his compatriot, neither were able to keep the surging Koiranen of Hughes from nipping past to steal the final podium position.
Louis Delétraz was unable to find a way past Callan O’Keeffe, settling for 9th plus the fastest lap of the race.
Results:
1 (25) 3 Jack AITKEN GBR KOIRANEN GP
2 (18) 27 Harrison SCOTT GBR AVF
3 (15) 2 Jake HUGHES GBR KOIRANEN GP
4 (12) 15 Kevin JÖRG SUI JOSEF KAUFMANN RACING
5 (10) 10 Darius OSKOUI SUI ART JUNIOR TEAM
6 (8) 17 Dennis OLSEN NOR MANOR MP MOTORSPORT
7 (6) 5 Martin KODRIC CRO FORTEC MOTORSPORTS
8 (4) 7 Callan O´KEEFFE RSA FORTEC MOTORSPORTS
9 (2) 14 Louis DELÉTRAZ SUI JOSEF KAUFMANN RACING
10 (1) 53 Will PALMER GBR ART JUNIOR TEAM
11 36 Thiago VIVACQUA BRA J.D. MOTORSPORT SRL
12 9 Ukyo SASAHARA JPN ART JUNIOR TEAM
13 19 Ignazio D’AGOSTO ITA MANOR MP MOTORSPORT
14 22 Anthoine HUBERT FRA TECH 1 RACING
15 28 Charlie EASTWOOD IRL AVF
16 35 Matevos ISAAKYAN RUS J.D. MOTORSPORT SRL
17 1 Anton DE PASQUALE AUS KOIRANEN GP
18 21 Simon GACHET FRA TECH 1 RACING
19 25 Amaury RICHARD FRA ARTA ENGINEERING
20 47 Nikita MAZEPIN RUS JOSEF KAUFMANN RACING
21 52 Matteo FERRER ITA CRAM MOTORSPORT
22 26 James ALLEN AUS ARTA ENGINEERING
23 8 Valentin HASSE-CLOT FRA FORTEC MOTORSPORTS
24 20 Hugo DE SADELEER SUI TECH 1 RACING
