Taylor Barnard scores first FIA F2 win in Monaco sprint race after red flag, as Nikola Tsolov does so in stop/start F3 race.
F2:
Despite a slower getaway than fellow front row starter Bortoleto, Barnard was able to keep a hold of the lead while Hauger tucked into third. However, a Safety Car was required after Victor Martins’ race ended early in the barriers at Turn 1. The ART Grand Prix driver appeared to collide with DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford and Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí, taking off his front wing and sending him into the wall.
At the restart, Barnard kept a hold of the lead, but the Safety Car was deployed again on Lap 6 when Martí crashed into the wall at the swimming pool section after suffering a snap upon exit at Turn 15. Racing resumed on Lap 8 and by the end of the next tour of the track, the top four from Barnard to Andrea Kimi Antonelli were separated by a second and a half.
The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed on Lap 11 after Richard Verschoor sustained damage on his front wing after hitting the apex at Mirabeau. The Trident driver appeared to receive a tap by AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen causing him to lose control – with the AIX driver later given a 10-second penalty for his part in the incident.
At the halfway stage, Oliver Bearman came on the radio to say he had suffered damage after hitting the barrier at the final corner. However, the PREMA Racing driver was able to continue on in P11. Out in front, Barnard’s lead over Bortoleto was now over two seconds by the start of Lap 19, the Brazilian driver now coming under pressure from Hauger.
Bearman’s day was then made worse when he had a slow moment out of Portier following an issue, dropping him to P14. This promoted Maloney to 11th, and he looked to dive down the inside of Zak O’Sullivan for P10 at the Turn 6 hairpin. However, the two made contact leading the Rodin Motorsport driver to lose a piece of his front wing endplate.
The Championship leader’s day then came to an end at La Rascasse after he locked up into the corner before being sent into a spin by Juan Manuel Correa. This also left Maini without a place to go causing him to stop next to Maloney. With the track blocked, it triggered a Red Flag. Racing got back underway with a rolling start on Lap 26 and Barnard was now nearly four seconds clear of Bortoleto as they rounded the track for the 28th time.
As they started the final lap, the gap out front was five seconds leaving Barnard to cross the line in first, giving him and AIX Racing their maiden Formula 2 victory. Bortoleto finished in P2 while Hauger followed him across the line to take P3.
Antonelli was fourth for the third time in the last four races ahead of the second MP car of Franco Colapinto. Trident’s Roman Stanek finished in sixth ahead of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron with Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar taking the final point in P8.
F3:
Tsolov got the launch he needed to retain first, but Tramnitz was able to leapfrog the ART of van Hoepen to take second into Turn 1. Further back and coming through Casino Square, contact between the third ART of Christian Mansell and PREMA Racing’s Arvid Lindblad put both into the wall. Their clash left the AIX Racing car of Joshua Dufek, MP Motorsport driver Alex Dunne and Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Cian Shields unable to avoid a collision behind.
It brought out the Safety Car before the first lap was completed, but with five cars needing to be cleared, a Red Flag followed. One big winner on the opening lap was Luke Browning, as the Hitech driver was able to move up from 10th to eighth, passing early season title rival Leonardo Fornaroli in the Trident.
Racing got back underway entering Lap 4 with a rolling start and Tsolov retained his lead comfortably over Tramnitz. Van Hoepen followed in third with Noel León in fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Joseph Loake in P5. The gaps fluctuated between those in the top 10 in the early phases of green flag racing, as Tsolov was able to repel Tramnitz thereby preventing the MP driver from gaining the DRS advantage.
By half distance, the gap was up to 2.5s in the Bulgarian driver’s favour, while Tramnitz had van Hoepen glued to his rear wing just 0.3s back, while León lurked a further half second behind. Lap 13 and the race was run for Kacper Sztuka, who stopped on the inside of Turn 1 with a puncture after contact with VAR’s Sophia Floersch, bringing out a Safety Car once again.
It was a short interruption and racing action resumed going onto Lap 16 and Tsolov re-launched into a sizeable lead. Over the line to start Lap 20, the gap was up to 3.5s over Tramnitz, who had van Hoepen and León charging and within a second in the fight for the podium positions.
Tsolov was well clear by the chequered flag, winning by over four seconds as Tramnitz resisted the pressure from behind to earn second for MP and a third rostrum visit of the year. Van Hoepen had León close behind but held onto P3 for his third podium of the year also.
Loake added a best finish in F3 to his finest Qualifying result of the season with P5 for Rodin, as Mari Boya followed in sixth for Campos Racing. Dino Beganovic was the highest-placed PREMA in P7, it was eighth for Browning, Fornaroli was ninth and Goethe rounded out the points in 10th.
[Note: The story is as per press release]