F2: Iwasa fends off Daruvala in Monaco sprint win; Marti wins F3

Ayumu Iwasa took the sprint F2 win in Monaco from Jehan Daruvala and Jak Crawford, as Pepe Marti did so in F3.

F2:

The reverse grid pole-sitter Isack Hadjar started well in his Hitech GP car in sprint F2 race in Monaco to keep his nose ahead of DAMS’ Ayumu Iwasa and MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala, with Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford slotting well in fourth.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Richard Verschoor steadied in fifth from Carlin’s Zan Maloney as Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan and ART’s Victor Martins rounded the Top 8 points place, where Martins had to defend from teammate Theo Pourchaire.

There was a safety car deployment straight up after Campos Racing’s Kush Maini was spin around by Trident’s Clement Novalak at the exit of the tunnel. This caused a chain reaction where PHM Charouz’s Roy Nissany stalled blocking others in the process.

There was already contact at the spoon section as the block from Nissany stopped DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger and Campos’ Ralph Boschung. The Israeli and the Swiss driver retired, while Leclerc and Hauger pitted along with Novalak.

The Frenchman was under investigation for causing a collision and was handed a 10s time penalty. The re-start was well for Hadjar but for a suspected engine issue he had to pit, which handed Iwasa the sprint F2 lead from Daruvala, Crawford, Verschoor and Maloney.

Doohan was sixth from Martins and Pourchaire. With another 5s penalty for Novalak for speeding in pitlane, it left him with no choice of fightback as Iwasa kept Daruvala at bay for the F2 sprint lead, while Crawford came under pressure from Verschoor.

Maloney and Doohan were at a distant in fifth and sixth, with Martins close on the tail of the Australian as Pourchaire was at a distant eighth for the final point where he was being chased by Prema’s Frederik Vesti and Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi.

It was all steady until a late safety car when Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel hit the barrier after being seemingly tapped by Van Amersfoort’s Juan Manuel Correa. This bunched up the field with Iwasa leading from Daruvala, Crawford, Verschoor and Maloney in Top 5.

It was a sound re-start from Iwasa as cold brakes seemingly kept Daruvala behind with Crawford on his tail being followed by Verschoor, Maloney, Doohan, Martins and Pourchaire in Top 8. Prema’s Oliver Bearman had issues on his car to pit and retire.

Iwasa stretched a 6.6s lead to win the sprint F1 race in Monaco from Daruvala, as Crawford held off Verschoor to retain the final podium place. Maloney was fifth from Doohan, Martins and Pourchaire in the points place, with Vesti holding off Fittipaldi.

#F2 #MonacoGP Results SprintRace, which had an early safetycar, a safetycar 2/3 of the race and some action at the end but other than that, nothing really happened. #MsportXtra @F2Inside pic.twitter.com/IA7wWeiBLb

— #MsportXtra © (@MsportXtra) May 27, 2023

More to come

F3:

Martí maintained the lead off the line to break away from Fornaroli, who found himself forced to go on the defensive from Taylor Barnard. However, the Jenzer Motorsport driver lost out himself, after a daring move by Saucy around the outside of Turn 1 allowed him to jump up to third.

The Safety Car was deployed on the first lap following contact into the opening corner at Sainte Devote sent Jonny Edgar into the barriers. His MP Motorsport teammate Mari Boya also suffered Turn 1 contact, resulting in retirement also.