Joseph Pepe Marti took his first FIA F2 win in sprint race in Abu Dhabi, as Gabriel Bortoleto extended his points lead over Isack Hadjar.
It was a dream start for Martí, who got up from fourth to the lead before Turn 1, while AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen and pole-sitter Amaury Cordeel’s slow starts left them fighting for P2. Their battle opened the door for the charging Invicta car of Kush Maini, who also had an excellent start, diving down the inside of Duerksen and Cordeel at Turn 6 to go to from P8 to second on Lap 1.
In the Championship fight, Bortoleto was up to fifth ahead of Aron, while Hadjar fell to 11th with a damaged front wing end plate after first corner contact with Maini. On to Lap 3 and Bortoleto was on the charge, getting ahead of Duerksen for P4 at Turn 6 and on the next tour, he was able to get past Cordeel at the same corner to put him in the podium places.
Behind him, his Championship rival Hadjar was looking to mount a comeback and after overtaking Oliver Goethe and Ritomo Miyata, was up to P9 chasing Dino Beganovic. By Lap 6, Bortoleto was right on the back of his Invicta teammate and used the DRS to his advantage to get ahead of Maini for P2. Maini was struggling and lost P3 to Cordeel at Turn 6, while the second Hitech car of Aron moved ahead of Duerksen at the same corner.
At the start of Lap 8, Martí was four seconds clear of Bortoleto out front, while Aron and Duerksen were able to get ahead of Maini at Turn 6 to put them fourth and fifth. Maini’s struggles continued on the next lap as he continued to drop down the field, with PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman and then Beganovic getting ahead of him into the popular Turn 6 before Hadjar put him out of the points altogether on the run to Turn 9.
Back to the battle for the lead, Bortoleto had reduced Martí’s advantage to 3.1s as the 11th lap got underway, with Cordeel a further two seconds behind the Brazilian in third. With Bortoleto on the podium and just 2.7s behind Martí on Lap 13, Hadjar was looking to rescue as many points as possible but was struggling to overtake Beganovic for seventh.
Cordeel had been over two seconds clear of Aron but a lock up on Lap 16 sent him wide at Turn 12, bringing his teammate right back into contention before he made the move for P3 at Turn 10. Duerksen was next to attempt a pass on the Belgian, but the two collided down at Turn 6, sending the AIX Racing driver into a spin and out of the race.
It put Bearman up to fourth but just as he was chasing Aron for P3, the Briton was given a five-second time penalty for exceeding track limits one too many times on Lap 19. Cordeel had dropped to fifth before being given a 10-second penalty for causing a collision by the Stewards just as Beganovic overtook him under braking at Turn 6.
Out in front, the gap from Martí to Bortoleto was 2.1s while 11s behind the Brazilian, Aron was resisting Bearman’s attacks as Hadjar got past Cordeel for P6. Martí though was unaffected out in front heading on to the final lap, before crossing the line to take his maiden Formula 2 victory ahead of Bortoleto, who extended his Championship lead to 5.5 points by finishing second.
Aron was able to hold off Bearman to end up in third, while the Briton’s five-second penalty dropped him to P5, with Beganovic moving to fourth. Hadjar finished sixth for Campos, while ART Grand Prix driver Luke Browning ending up in seventh as Richard Verschoor rounded out the points for MP Motorsport.
Results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1865384394933899670
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race in Yas Marina, Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron has been disqualified from the results. A post-race report by the FIA Technical Delegate indicated that the DRS actuator of Car #17 had been modified, in breach of Article 1.5.2 of the FIA F2 Technical Regulations. It was determined that the DRS actuator had been modified to extend the length by one millimetre, allowing a wider opening of the DRS wing, therefore breaching Article 1.5.2 of the FIA F2 Technical Regulations.
As such, Car #17 has been disqualified from the results of the Sprint Race, the standard penalty for a technical infringement. In this case however, there is a strong presumption that the team was aware of the non-conformity of the part (or at least should have been, if they had exercised due diligence). As such an offence can only be committed by a deliberate act to modify the part in question, the Stewards consider that an additional penalty for the disqualification of Car #17 from Race 1 is appropriate. Article 12.4.6 of the FIA International Sporting Code gives the Stewards the authority to impose an additional penalty.
In view of the seriousness and nature of the offence, the Stewards consider it appropriate that in addition to the disqualification from the Sprint Race, Car #17 should start from the pit lane for the Feature Race. As a result, DAMS Lucas Oil’s Dino Beganovic is therefore promoted to P3 and achieves his first Formula 2 podium. This also means that Jak Crawford moved up to eighth place and takes the final point.
Isack Hadjar moves up to fifth in the final classification meaning he now trails Gabriel Bortoleto by just four and half points going into the final Feature Race of the season. Here: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Yas%20Marina%20Event%20-%20INFRINGEMENT%20-%20Car%2017%20-%20breach%20of%20Technical%20Regulations%20Article%201.5.2.pdf
Provisional grid: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Yas%20Marina%20Event%20-%20F2%20Race%202%20(Feature)%20-%20provisional%20starting%20grid.pdf
[The story is as per press release]