Marcus Armstrong held off Jehan Daruvala to win sprint F2 race at Imola, with Franco Colapinto doing so in the F3 race.
F2:
Even before the start of sprint F2 race at Imola, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel had a crash on the citing lap which ended his race. The weather remained dry despite rain prediction, as reverse grid pole-sitter Logan Sargeant did not have a good start.
The Carlin racer dropped to fifth as Hitech GP’s Marcus Armstrong led the way from Prema duo of Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger in the Top 3 with DAMS’ Roy Nissany in fourth from Sargeant and Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschong.
MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich came through from outside of Top 10 to be seventh from ART’s Theo Pourchaire who dropped places with DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa ninth and Carlin’s Liam Lawson 10th as Hitech GP’s Juri Vips’ slow start dropped to the back.
There was immediate safety car period after Charouz’s David Beckmann spun out of the race, as re-start worked well for Armstrong who led the way from Daruvala. The Indian racer had teammate Hauger on his tail with the Top 3 bridging a gap to others.
Nissany in fourth held off Sargeant, Boschung and Drugovich but the Swiss racer seemingly dropped after due to an issue. He stopped on track with Virtual Safety Car called in. The re-start was good for Daruvala who gained on Armstrong but not for Hauger.
The Norwegian dropped off the tail of Daruvala who pressed hard on Armstrong. But the Kiwi had enough to remain in the lead with Hauger holding third. Behind, Nissany held off Sargeant and Drugovich for fourth, with Pourchaire seventh from Lawson.
The Kiwi though was hot on the heels of Pourchaire with Iwasa also in the mix. Doohan dropped outside of Top 10 after ART’s Frederik Vesti passed him for 10th. Up front, Armstrong just about had it in him to win the sprint F2 race at Imola.
In fact, Daruvala started to lose time with Hauger finishing under a second to him as Nissany too was in touching distance in fourth. Drugovich passed Sargeant for fifth with Pourchaire and Lawson rounding the points from Iwasa and Vesti in the Top 10.
F3:
Warm and sunny conditions greeted the field of 29 on Saturday morning after Free Practice and Qualifying was affected by rain through Friday, meaning for many it was their first taste of Imola on slick tyres. As the five red lights went out Colapinto made the perfect getaway from pole position, but behind him Ido Cohen bogged down from his front-row spot to fifth, while Collet surged from fourth to second, picking off teammate Kush Maini.
Collet remained glued to the rear of Colapinto and with the assistance of DRS breezed past his opponent along the pits straight on lap 4. But Collet couldn’t shake off the advances of Colapinto while a couple of seconds behind it was Hadjar who was the driver on the move. Having gone around the outside of Cohen on lap 1 he dispatched Martins along the pit straight before working past Maini into the second chicane, moving into third spot.
Colapinto’s pursuit of Collet was halted when the Safety Car was deployed after Zak O’Sullivan spun out of seventh, and he was joined moments later in the same gravel trap by Josep Maria Martí. There was also an unwelcome development for Maini, who was issued a drive-through penalty for being out-of-position at the race start, removing him from fourth.
Racing resumed on lap 10 but the green flags were only out for a couple of minutes as Reece Ushijima and Federico Malvestiti clashed exiting the first chicane, necessitating the Safety Car once more. Shortly after the subsequent restart Arthur Leclerc went wide and ploughed through a DRS board, scattering polystyrene over the track surface, requiring the Virtual Safety Car while the debris was cleared.
Finally, there was a frenetic two-lap dash to the flag and Colapinto seized the initiative to sweep past Collet along the pit straight. The Brazilian was left vulnerable to the advances of the fast-charging Hadjar but the two cars interlocked on the approach to the first chicane. Collet was out while Hadjar relinquished positions after skating through the gravel.
As Colapinto greeted his jubilant Van Amersfoort mechanics, behind him Martins and Crawford crossed the line split by just 0.06s to grab second and third respectively. It capped a frantic duel between the pair, which had previously seen Crawford run through the gravel at the first chicane in his attempt to overhaul Martins.
Roman Staněk was a beneficiary of the late drama to move into fourth place, ahead of the delayed Hadjar, with Zane Maloney sixth, and Oliver Rasmussen seventh. Eighth went to Kaylen Frederick, Alexander Smolyar was ninth while Rafael Villagómez gained 10 spots from his starting position to round out the top 10.
