Gabriel Bortoleto had his first FIA F2 feature race in Austria after a clean drive, as Luke Browning took the win in F3.
F2:
There was drama before lights out as pole-sitter Dennis Hauger stalled at the start of the formation lap, alongside Kush Maini and Jak Crawford, forcing the trio to start from the pitlane. This left Duerksen as the lead car on the grid, and he made a fast start ahead of Bortoleto with Colapinto in third and Championship leader Paul Aron fourth.
Colapinto was the lone driver in the top five to start on the softs and he was coming under pressure from Aron and Isack Hadjar, who were on the Supersofts. Further up the road, Duerksen and Bortoleto were now battling for the lead with the Brazilian making the move down the inside at Turn 4 on Lap 4.
Colapinto was next to overtake the AIX Racing driver and dived down his inside on the run to Turn 3. On Lap 6, Josep María Martí lost P6 to the Sprint Race winner Oliver Bearman, the PREMA Racing getting past at the exit of Turn 3. Moments later, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed with Zane Maloney stopping on track.
After his Rodin Motorsport car was cleared, racing resumed with a number of Supersoft runners then pitting for the Softs. That included Martí, Duerksen, Bortoleto, Taylor Barnard, Richard Verschoor and Andrea Kimi Antonelli – the latter stalling in the pit lane, dropping him to the back of the field after a good start from P16 put him in P10.
Martí gained the most through the pitstop phase as he now had the effective race lead ahead of Bortoleto. Hadjar, Duerksen and Aron – who was handed a five-second penalty for changing directions multiple times under braking in his earlier battle with Hadjar – followed the Spaniard.
Onto Lap 18 and Aron had now got past Duerksen, and further up the road, Bortoleto was now right on the back of Martí in the battle for what would turn out to be the lead of the race. The Brazilian driver dived down the inside of his fellow rookie at Turn 3 to take the position.
As the 24th of 40 laps started, Hadjar had closed to within DRS range of Martí as the two went toe-to-toe in the battle for sixth. As they fought for position, Aron was now closing in on the pair. The Frenchman eventually made his way by on the entry to Turn 3 with his eyes set firmly on chasing down Bortoleto, who was two and a half seconds up the road.
Enzo Fittipaldi was also having a strong day as he made his way past his Van Amersfoort Racing teammate Rafael Villagómez and Trident’s Roman Stanek, with Duerksen his next target in P9. The battle between the two Campos drivers then resumed on Lap 32, just as the leader Colapinto made his mandatory pit stop. The MP rookie came back out in P8 behind a squabbling Fittipaldi and Duerksen.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1807338100768522593
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Spielberg, Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí has been handed a time-penalty. The Stewards investigated the Spanish driver for being in breach Article 38.9b of the FIA Formula 2 Sporting Regulations, relating to serving a mandatory pitstop under the Virtual Safety Car.
They spoke with both the driver and a Campos representative, examined video evidence and GPS data before determining that Martí had not reached the Safety Car line 1 when the VSC banner was displayed, leading to him serving his pitstop under Virtual Safety Car conditions.
A 10-second stop and go penalty was given to Martí which when assessed post-race in accordance with Article 39.3 of the Sporting Regulations, is converted into a 30-second time penalty. This means that Martí, who finished fourth on track, moves down to 15th in the final classification.
F3:
Browning launched into a clear lead at the first corner while PREMA Racing teammates Lindblad, Minì and Beganovic followed in second through to fourth as Tim Tramnitz dropped down to seventh. Lindblad and Minì battled on the exit of Turn 4 which allowed Beganovic the run into Turn 6 to take third position from the Italian.
That became second for the Swede on Lap 2 as he dived down the inside of his teammate into Turn 3. Noel León was on the move too further back, taking sixth from Sebastián Montoya as he continued his charge from 13th on the grid. León continued his climb through the pack with a switchback move on Oliver Goethe into Turn 4 on Lap 6 to move into the top five.
Beganovic was beginning to reel in race leader Browning, with his earlier 0.9s advantage down to 0.5s on Lap 7. Just behind the Swede, Minì made his way into third at the expense of Lindblad, going around the outside at Turn 4. Lindblad was dropping through the pack on Lap 8 after brief contact with Alex Dunne into Turn 3 as the MP Motorsport driver passed Goethe.
León, Dunne and Goethe were each able to clear the Briton on the run to Turn 4 to relegate the Red Bull Junior Team driver to seventh, though the Irishman was later handed a 10-second penalty for the contact with the PREMA. Goethe then made a late dive to the inside of Dunne at Turn 4 on Lap 10 to move back into fifth position.
Contact at Turn 3 between Mari Boya in the Campos and AIX Racing’s Nikita Bedrin brought out a Virtual Safety Car on Lap 11 while marshals retrieved the latter’s car. Back to racing conditions and Goethe was on the attack against León for fourth. The slightest of touches resulted in a puncture for the Van Amersfoort Racing driver, ending his charge through the pack and leaving him tumbling down the order.
With 10 laps to go, everyone behind leader Browning had DRS down to the ninth-placed Tramnitz as the fight for points ebbed and flowed. Christian Mansell made his way into sixth position with a pass around the outside of Lindblad at Turn 4 on Lap 19. That became fourth for the Australian with five laps to go, diving down the inside of Goethe at Turn 4 to continue his progress.
Nikola Tsolov moved into seventh at the expense of Lindblad on Lap 23, putting a brave move on the PREMA driver into Turn 6. Minì made an attempt on Beganovic for second at Turn 3 on the following lap, but it was Mansell that went surging around the outside of the Italian at the following corner to take third. That was until Minì pulled off his own audacious pass to re-take P3 at Turn 6.
Onto the penultimate lap and the battling behind allowed Browning to break out of DRS range to Beganovic, who was under attack from teammate Minì at Turn 4, with the Alpine Academy driver securing second at Turn 6. The Swede had the DRS on the final lap and re-passed his teammate into Turn 3. Once again though, Minì braved it on the outside of Turn 5 and into Turn 6 to retake the place.
While the pack battled behind, Hitech’s Browning earned his second victory of the year to take over the lead of the Drivers’ Championship. Minì lifted himself up to second place with P2 ahead of teammate Beganovic, who rounded out the podium for PREMA. Mansell’s late-race charge ended with fourth ahead of Goethe, Tsolov, Lindblad, Laurens van Hoepen and Leonardo Fornaroli, who came through the pack from 24th. Dunne held onto the final point with his five-second time penalty applied.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1807313954093322286
Here’s how F2, F3 sprint panned out
[Note: The story is as per press release]