F2 AUSTRIA: BORTOLETO TAKES FIRST VICTORY IN FEATURE RACE

Formula 3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto opened his Formula 2 win account with a dominant drive in the Austrian feature race, as Franco Colapinto emerged in second on the alternate strategy.

Invicta driver Bortoleto had started from the third-place grid slot, but quickly established himself in the lead and secured himself the victory following his pitstop with a pass on Campos rival Pepe Marti, who became the net race leader courtesy of stopping during a brief virtual safety car period.

Four drivers stalled when the formation lap commenced, among them MP Motorsport’s pole-sitter Dennis Hauger, who was forced to start from the pits as a result.

This elevated Joshua Durksen (AIX) to a de facto pole position and the German led the early laps before Bortoleto made his move on lap four with a textbook move aided by DRS.

Early championship leader Zane Maloney (Rodin) has endured a torrid time of late and this continued in Austria, as the Sauber junior stalled at the start of the race before retiring on lap six, causing the virtual safety car to be deployed.

At the same time as the race was neutralised, Marti was entering the pits. The stop is subject to a post-race investigation as drivers cannot enter the pits for their mandatory stop under the VSC, but the stop can be completed if they are already in.

Following Bortoleto’s stop, he rejoined 5s behind Red Bull junior Marti, but a show of pace to quickly close this gap ultimately proved decisive as the Brazilian pulled his race-winning move on lap 20 at Turn 3.

Running the alternative strategy by starting on the harder of the two tyre compounds, Colapinto (MP Motorsport) stayed out to lead sprint winner Oliver Bearman, but the Prema driver's hopes were dashed when a reliability issue forced him to retire at the lap 20 mid-point of the race.

Colapinto's exploits in playing the long game yielded rewards once he stopped with eight laps to go and switched to the super soft rubber. After rejoining eighth, the Argentine charged through to second with completing late moves on warring Campos duo Marti and Isack Hadjar.

Tensions had risen for Campos after Marti was slowed to allow championship-contending Hadjar through to chase Bortoleto.

But it was further ramped up when Hadjar, unable to demonstrate the pace he had claimed to have, failed to return the favour in the closing stages and instead kept the final podium position for himself.

Championship leader Paul Aron (Hitech) crossed the line in fifth, but dropped a place to Enzo Fittipaldi after he was handed a five-second penalty for moving under braking when battling with Hadjar early on.

However, Aron remains at the top of the standings with a nine-point lead over Hadjar.

Bortoleto is boosted third, 10 points clear of Maloney, who has scored once in the last four races, while Colapinto is now tied with the Barbados driver, but remains fifth by virtue of having only one win to the Rodin driver’s two.

F2 Austria Feature Race Results

2024-06-30T09:38:33Z dg43tfdfdgfd