Oliver Bearman took the win in feature FIA F2 race in Barcelona from Enzo Fittipaldi, as Pepe Marti reigns in F3.

F2:

Bearman immediately covered off Fittipaldi at lights out but that allowed Ayumu Iwasa to put them three-wide into the first corner. It was the Rodin Carlin driver that ran out of road at Turn 2, skipping across the runoff area to re-join in second.

Théo Pourchaire was able to take advantage of the baulked momentum of those ahead of him, repassing the DAMS driver for third at Turn 4. Jack Doohan moved up to fourth with a bold move on Iwasa, going around the outside of Turn 10 and sealing it at Turn 12.

Pourchaire and Iwasa were the first of the leaders in for their mandatory pitstops on Lap 10. They swapped to the hard tyres and rejoined in the same order they entered, down in 17th and 18th on the road.

Fittipaldi was called in to cover off the Frenchman on the following lap and he was joined by Doohan and Dennis Hauger in the pitlane. The Brazilian rejoined ahead of Pourchaire but by less than half a second. Behind them, Iwasa was able to pass Doohan at Turn 2 with his tyres up to temperature.

On Lap 12, Pourchaire tried to sweep around the outside of Fittipaldi but ran deep at Turn 1, falling back in line behind his rival. Their battling allowed race leader Bearman to extend his first stint until Lap 14. The PREMA driver made the switch to hard compound and re-joined 3.5s clear of Fittipaldi, but that gap fell to just 0.5s by the end of the lap with the Rodin Carlin’s tyres fired up.

The duo began picking off those yet-to-stop runners still on the hard tyres, with Martins with Frederik Vesti in second yet to pit, both on the alternate strategy. Further back, Doohan made the most of DRS to pass Pourchaire into Turn 1 on Lap 18.

Vesti was in for his swap to soft tyres on Lap 25, coming back out in ninth behind Hauger. Martins relinquished the lead on the following lap, making his mandatory stop and switched to softs. The ART driver was back out in P5 ahead of teammate Pourchaire.

The PREMA driver on the alternate strategy made a bold move into Turn 1 on Hauger and a still-to-pit Zane Maloney. Going three-wide, Vesti claimed the inside and seventh position in one move. One lap later and he cleared Pourchaire into Turn 1, setting his sights on Martins ahead.

The #6 ART passed Doohan into the first corner on Lap 28 to put a car between himself and his pursuer. That was until Vesti surged around the outside of the Australian at Turn 10 later on the same lap.

Martins and Vesti closed on Iwasa and on Lap 35, the Frenchman claimed the final spot on the podium with a dive to the inside of Turn 1. Bearman remained out of touch in front, securing his third victory of his rookie campaign ahead of Fittipaldi and Martins.

Vesti tried on consecutive laps but couldn’t find a route through on Iwasa for fourth place. Doohan secured sixth ahead of Pourchaire and Hauger. Arthur Leclerc and Richard Verschoor rounded out the top 10 places in P9 and P10.

F3:

Despite getting a strong launch from pole, Martí was forced to immediately dive to the inside to cover off Taylor Barnard. Making an impression on his first front row start and benefiting from the slipstream, the Jenzer Motorsport driver tried to swoop around the outside but had to peel off down the escape road, re-joining in second.

After scoring his maiden podium in the Sprint Race, Luke Browning’s race came to an early end on the opening lap. Contact with Leonardo Fornaroli down into Turn 4 left the #16 Hitech Pulse-Eight pulling up with broken suspension to bring out the Safety Car.

Martí opted to make the jump early on Lap 7, trying to pull away from Barnard through Turn 12. The Briton was all over the Campos just after the restart but couldn’t sustain the pace, dropping out of DRS range by Lap 10.

Barnard steadily began to drop down the order, as Colapinto and Beganovic breezed past the Jenzer along the main straight on consecutive laps with DRS.

Gabriel Bortoleto found his way through on Lap 17, but Barnard attempted to fight back through Turn 2. That opened the door for Aron to swoop past, going late on the brakes downhill through Turn 5.

A mistake out of the final corner gave Mari Boya and Sebastián Montoya their opportunities to pounce. Whilst the MP Motorsport driver got through, Barnard fought back, diving up the inside of the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver to regain eighth momentarily before a late lunge from Montoya stuck.

In the battle for the final points, Sprint Race winner Zak O’Sullivan made an ambitious overtake attempt on Oliver Goethe around the outside of Turn 13. It put the pair three-wide with Grégoire Saucy on the start of Lap 19. Although both the PREMA Racing and ART Grand Prix drivers found their way past, the #8 ART picked up a puncture after the slightest of contact with the Trident’s front wing. Saucy dropped to the back of the pack while Goethe received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Out front, nobody could deny Martí and the crowd their celebrations, with the Spaniard reaching the chequered flag 4.4 seconds ahead of Colapinto and Beganovic. Bortoleto achieved back-to-back P4 finishes ahead of Aron and home hero Boya.

Montoya secured seventh ahead of O’Sullivan, after the Williams junior demoted Barnard to P9 with a move on the penultimate lap. Goethe’s time penalty promoted Christian Mansell to the final points position.

 

More to come

Here’s how F2 and F3 sprint panned out

[Note: The story is as per press release]

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