Franco Colapinto stuck a last lap move to win FIA F2 sprint race in Imola, as Oliver Goethe gets F3 win after penalty to Noel Leon.
F2:
Aron made a fast start from P3, getting ahead of Colapinto and teammate Amaury Cordeel to take the lead into Turn 3. But the Safety Car was immediately required following contact between Roman Stanek and Isack Hadjar that led to several other incidents. The Campos Racing driver spun into the path of AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi leading them to collide. At the same time, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger hit Stanek while looking to take avoiding action.
We were back to racing on Lap 6 as Aron extended his lead over his teammate Cordeel. A lap later, the Belgian went wide at the penultimate corner giving Colapinto the chance to overtake him for P2 down the main straight. By Lap 9, Colapinto was beginning to close the gap to Aron while Cordeel, having dropped back from the top two, was coming under pressure from Zane Maloney, Oliver Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto.
On Lap 12, Colapinto was now within DRS range of Aron, while Maloney was beginning to attack Cordeel. However, both Hitech cars were proving difficult to pass. Elsewhere, Bearman was beginning to come under pressure from Bortoleto and AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard. After biding his time behind the Hitech car, Maloney finally made his move past Cordeel around the outside at Turn 3 on Lap 22, putting him on course for his fourth podium of the year.
On the penultimate lap and having dropped back from the leader, Colapinto closed on Aron once more before making a last lap move past his fellow rookie around at the outside at Tamburello. The move earned the MP driver his first victory in Formula 2, while Aron took second place ahead of Maloney. Cordeel finished in fourth place while Bearman was able to hold off Bortoleto to finish in P5. Taylor Barnard delivered his first points in F2 for AIX Racing in seventh, while Richard Verschoor rounded out the points paying positions in P8.
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race at Imola, Taylor Barnard has been disqualified due to a technical infringement. The #25 AIX Racing car was reported to the Stewards for an alleged failure to engage the start set-up procedure at the start of the formation lap of the Sprint Race.
According to the Technical Delegate’s report, Car 25 did not engage the start set-up procedure as required. As a result, Car 25 was in breach of Article 1.6.1 of the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Technical Regulations, and Article 10.15 of the F2 2024 System User Manual.
After the driver and team representative appeared before the Stewards, it was ruled that Car #25 was in breach of the rule. Barnard is subsequently removed from the race results. Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini is promoted up to eighth position and earns the final point in the Sprint Race.
The stewards cleared Antonelli of his infringement, while also cleared Colapinto, Stanek and Hadjar of their Lap 1 incident. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Imola%20Event%20-%20DECISION%20-%20Car%204%20-%20alleged%20breach%20of%20Delta%20Time%20in%20multiple%20sectors%20under%20Safety%20Car.pdf
F3:
Pole sitter Kacper Sztuka had León tucked into the slipstream from lights out and with the tow, the Mexican rounded the MP rookie to take the lead into the first chicane. Tramnitz followed through on his teammate to take second place before Goethe then moved himself up to third having started from sixth on the grid.
Contact for Campos’ Mari Boya left the Spaniard spinning at Turn 6 and in the gravel. That brought out the Safety Car before the opening lap was completed. León led the restart entering Lap 4 with a comfortable buffer over Tramnitz in second and the VAR driver’s lead was 1.2s after the first lap back under racing conditions.
The Safety Car was back out on Lap 5 after Callum Voisin found the barriers on the exit of Turn 7. Contact with the Jenzer Motorsport car belonging to Charlie Wurz bounced the Rodin Motorsport driver wide and into the wall. He was out of the car and ok and the Austrian was later handed a 10-second time penalty for the incident.
León didn’t get the same launch as first time around as racing got back underway on Lap 8, but despite his best efforts, Tramnitz couldn’t find room to pass into the first chicane. Further back, Sami Meguetounif went spinning into the gravel after the slightest of touches with the rear of Dino Beganovic’s PREMA Racing car ahead of him into Turn 2. The Trident driver was left beached in the gravel and out of the race, requiring another Safety Car.
The Safety Car was withdrawn heading on to Lap 11, and León got a stronger restart to hold onto the lead comfortably this time around. Gabriele Minì had been tucked up behind the ART Grand Prix car of Laurens van Hoepen, but the Italian driver finally cleared him into Turns 5 and 6 with a brave pass into the chicane.
With León over a second clear, Tramnitz was on the defensive from Goethe but with DRS, the Campos driver cleared his fellow Red Bull Junior Team member into Turn 2 on Lap 13. There was a fourth Safety Car deployed on Lap 13, but it was quickly withdrawn, and racing resumed on Lap 15. Once again, León managed the restart perfectly to keep hold of the lead as the top three broke clear of the chasing pack.
Beganovic was able to pass Sztuka for fourth with two laps to go, as the Swede made his way by the MP rookie into the first chicane. Browning tried to follow the PREMA through but suffered contact with the Polish driver that broke his front wing and left him in the gravel at Turn 7. The brief Virtual Safety Car which was withdrawn on the final lap allowed Goethe to catch León unawares and take the lead out of Turn 15.
The German led through the final corners to earn the Imola Sprint victory on the road, but a time penalty for him and Tramnitz for a prior Safety Car infringement left both with a five-second time penalty. León therefore regained the win ahead of Goethe and Tramnitz, who remained on the podium despite their penalties.
Beganovic ended up fourth ahead of Sztuka and Minì, who passed van Hoepen on the final lap for sixth. Arvid Lindblad was eighth ahead of Nikita Bedrin for AIX Racing and Santiago Ramos of Trident rounding out the points in 10th.
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 3 Sprint Race at Imola, Campos Racing’s Oliver Goethe has been reinstated as the Sprint Race winner. It comes after the removal of the five-second time penalty that was applied immediately after the conclusion of the Sprint Race. Goethe initially was found to have breached Article 40.7 of the 2024 FIA Formula 3 Sporting Regulations, specifically failing to stay above the minimum time during the Safety Car procedure.
The Stewards examined available timing data evidence following the Sprint Race along with the race control messaging system. After taking into account all of the information, the Stewards ruled that the penalty assigned to Goethe in-race was invalid due to the timing matrix not reflecting changes made to Article 40.7 of the 2024 Sporting Regulations at the start of the season. Because of this, the penalty applied to Goethe in the race was incorrect, and as a result of its removal, moves him back to P1.
Here’s news on FIA suspending F3 drivers
[Note: The story is as per press release]
