F2: Antonelli takes maiden feature F2 win
Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli put in a stunning late charge through the field to take his first Feature Race victory of the season in an exciting Budapest Feature Race.
Championship leader Isack Hadjar endured drama before the start as he was forced to start from the pit lane after leaving for the grid late.
Pole-sitter Paul Aron endured a slow start off the line, and locked up into Turn 1 which saw him drop to seventh. However, Victor Martins had a great getaway and left the opening turn in the lead.
On the opening laps, Martins was under pressure from Enzo Fittipaldi, but the Brazilian was unable to make a move stick.
Moments later, Paul Aron was eager to overtake Dennis Hauger, but he went into the back of the Norwegean driver’s car. With both cars stopping on the track, safety car was required.
This allowed several of the Soft tyre runners, such as Martins, Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger, Zak O’Sullivan, Oliver Bearman, and Hadjar to pit for Hards and complete their mandatory stop.
The action resumed on Lap 8 with Antonelli leading the way ahead of Verschoor and Kush Maini, the trio yet to pit.
The Italian displayed enormous speed on his used hards to build up an advantage of over seven seconds from the chasing pack within a few laps.
In the meantime, Martins fought his way up, and he made a move on Verschoor, diving down his inside at Turn 1 to move up to P2.
But as he looked to close the six and a half second gap to Antonelli, the Safety Car was called upon with Cordeel having crashed into the barrier at Turn 4.
The Hitech driver reported that he was okay, but this gave Antonelli the chance to pit for the softs and he came back out in fifth behind Hauger. But, with 14 laps to go, the Italian was now in prime position to challenge for the race win.
Racing resumed on Lap 27 of 37 with Martins leading away Bortoleto, but they were quickly under pressure from Antonelli, who got past both Hauger and Fittipaldi before reaching Turn 3.
Antonelli’s charge continued on the next lap as he dived down the inside of Bortoleto into Turn 1.
Following the Safety Cars, the race became one against the clock and with under nine minutes to go, Antonelli used the DRS to his advantage and passed Martins on the main straight to take the lead.
Further behind, Verschoor was also on the charge and went round the outside of Hauger at Turn 2 to take P5 before getting past Fittipaldi on the next lap at Turn 1.
Onto the final lap, Antonelli had built up a lead of 12s before crossing the line to take his first Feature Race victory of the season, with Martins in second place.
Verschoor made a last lap overtake on Bortoleto to take P3 with Fittipaldi following his fellow Brazilian across the line in fifth, and ahead of Hauger, who ended up in P6.
Maini was another making a comeback through the field on the Softs, and he ended up seventh ahead of Miyata and AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard, with VAR’s Rafael Villagómez rounding out the points in P10.
Expanding on his second F2 triumph, Antonelli noted: “Just finished the Feature Race here, I’m really happy. It was great race, really tough but at the end we were a bit lucky with the Safety Car, but we managed everything very well.
The pace was really strong, so I think we really deserved it today. The pace was really strong so really happy to get the second win home and hopefully we can carry on this momentum.”
Championship standingsDespite his disappointing race today, Isack Hadjar still leads the Drivers’ Championship, but his lead is down to 18 over Paul Aron in P2 with the Estonian scoring two points for starting on Pole, while Gabriel Bortoleto moves up to third on 110 points.
Zane Maloney drops to fourth and stays on 101 points, ahead of Franco Colapinto on 96, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli now up to sixth with 85 points.
In the Teams’ Championship we have a new leader with Invicta Racing’s big weekend moving them up to 184 points, six clear of Campos Racing who are now second. MP Motorsport also drop to third and are on 175 points with Hitech Pulse-Eight fourth on 147.
Rodin Motorsport stay fifth with 124 points, with PREMA Racing now just five points behind in sixth.
