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F2: Vesti wins sprint race, Bearman dominates feature race

By Balazs Szabo on

Prema racer Frederick Vesti dominated the rain-soaked sprint race on the Spanish Grand Prix whereas his group mate Oliver Bearman snatched his third F2 victory on Sunday. F1Technical’s Balázs Szabó studies on the F2 races from Barcelona.

Following the sunny and scorching climate situations on Friday, drivers had been greeted by very completely different situations on Saturday as they lined up on the grid for the sprint race at Barcelona.

Despite the slippery floor following a heavy downpour, reverse pole sitter Amaury Cordeel was in a position to grasp on to the lead, defending his place to championship chief Frederik Vesti into Turn 1.

However, because the main pair approchaed Turn 10 on the second lap, Cordeel ran huge which Vesti was completely delighted to capitalize on.

Vesti was in a position to draw back and construct up a margin of round 5 seconds by the midway level of the race. With the observe drying up shortly, drivers exterior the highest ten positions determined to pit with Jehan Daruvala, Kush Maini and Zane Maloney diving into the pits first for red-walled softs.

Just after the primary pit stops, Juan Manuel Correia misplaced his F2 automobile at Turn 2, spinning into the gravel entice. The incident introduced out the digital security automobile earlier than the race director deployed full security automobile on the next lap.

The drivers, who had been nonetheless out on moist tyres, made use of the chance and got here in for slicks.

The slower tempo on the moist floor and the VSC and SC interventions meant that the race went to time as a substitute of lap quantity. On the slicks Theo Pourchaire was flying and overtook Dennis Hauger at Turn 1 earlier than going previous his group mate Martins at Turn 3.

The Frenchman put his championship rival Vesti in sight, however the Dane was in a position to withstand and secured his third win of the season.

Vesti commented: “P1 in the Sprint Race in Barcelona, really happy to take this win. We started third and I knew there was a good possibility today to take the win in very difficult conditions, going from the wet to the dry tyres. Good points again and we focus on tomorrow now.”

Friday noticed Prema driver Oliver Bearman snatch his second F2 pole place. The Ferrari-backed driver needed to combat arduous at the beginning and as much as Turn 4, however he managed to cling on to the lead.

The younger Briton may take care of his tender Pirelli tyres and managed to slowly lengthen his lead from Enzo Fittipaldi. While the entrance runners began to dive into the pits for recent tyres, Victor Martins and championship chief Frederic Vesti, who began the race on the extra sturdy arduous compound, stayed out to increase their opening stint.

Although the recent tyres yielded clearly extra grip, the earlier entrance runners Bearman, Fittipaldi, Ayumu Iwasa and Theo Pourchaire had been unable to completely capitalize on it as they had been caught in visitors. While all of them wanted to pressure their means by drivers, who had been but to pit for brand spanking new rubber, Martins and Vesti had been untroubled and will take care of their white-walled tyres.

The Mercedes junior driver got here in for brand spanking new tyres on Lap 25 whereas Martins determined to pit for a recent set of softs on the next lap. The Dane got here again out in ninth place with the Frenchman rejoining the motion in P5.

Using the superior grip of their recent softs, they shortly posted a sequence of quickest laps, going initially virtually two seconds faster than their rivals on the high.

The championship chief Prema driver made daring strikes on Dannis Hauger Zane Maloney and Purchaire earlier than passing Jack Doohan.

The pair used their recent tyres to shut in on Iwasa with the Alpine Academy driver going previous the Japanase by diving to the within of Turn 1. Although he additionally closed in on the second-placed Fittipaldi, he was unable to go the Brazilian and wanted to accept P3.

The Prema racer, who was additionally on the alternate technique, misplaced the sting grip of his recent softs when he closed in on Iwasa and needed to accept fifth place.

In the meantime, Bearman taken care of his tyres and took a managed race victory within the Barcelona Feature Race to safe his third F2 victory in his debut season.

Commenting on his third F2 victory, the Ferrari junior Bearman stated: “That’s another Feature Race win here in Barcelona, an amazing race! Bit scary with the strategy when I got stuck behind the guys on the opposite strategy, but we had really great pace for the whole race and brought it home. Really happy for the team and we brought it home. On to Austria.”

Thanks to his commanding victory in Race 1 in Barcelona, Vesti managed to retain the lead of the Drivers’ Championship, extending the earlier margin over second-placed Pourchaire. The high two at the moment are on 110 and 99 factors respectively. Iwasa stays third for DAMS, as much as 82 factors forward of Bearman who climbs as much as fourth on 70 factors. Dennis Hauger is fifth on 57.

In the Teams’ Standings, PREMA Racing stay high of the pile, now on 180 factors. ART Grand Prix transfer onto 144 in second place with DAMS nonetheless third, now on 118.


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