Richard Verschoor claimed his first pole position in Monte Carlo yesterday ahead of Victor Martins and Isack Hadjar in P2 and P3. However with the reverse grid for the Sprint Race, Taylor Barnard will start on pole with Gabriel Bortoleto along side him.
Barnard had a slow start but managed to hold the lead of the race from Bortoleto.
Martins had an extremely poor launch and made contact with one of the DAMS car into turn 1 which caused him to end up in the wall and an early end for the French driver
Hauger who was running third made slight contact with the wall into turn 19 but he managed to keep his P3 and continue. Bearman looks to find his way past O’Sullivan at the hairpin for P10 down the inside, but he ultimately can’t find a way by.
Antonelli closed the gap up to Hauger trying to snatch the last podium place from the Norwegian.
Pepe Marti put his car into the barrier as he lost his car and had a massive snap on the exit of Turn 16 on lap 6 which caused the Safety car to be deployed.
Barnard, Bortoleto, Hauger, Antonelli and Colapinto are the top 5 of lap 7 of 30 as the marshals are cleaning up the track.
Barnard had an amazing Safety car restart as Hauger has been pushing Bortoleto for the second position. Maini received a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining advantage from that lap 1 mess.
A Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Verschoor got damage as he clipped his front wing against the wall because of contact with Dürksen. The Dutch driver had to change his front nose placing him at the back of the field.
Lap 14, Bearman reports damage as he had a hefty hit into the wall at turn 19. The Brit seems to be slowing down slightly but keeps P11 and confirms he can continue.
Dürksen received a 10-second penalty for the collision which gave Verschoor damage.
Lap 20 of 30 and Bearman pressures O’Sullivan. But he suddenly lost power for a few seconds and dropped 3 positions, but he managed to continue.
Maloney has damage on his front wing as he tried to make a move on O’Sullivan.
The red flag was waved as Maloney clipped his rear as he had a lock up into turn 17. Correa hit him at the back which sent the Championship leader to spin and ended his race. Maloney’s car blocked the track, which brought the red flag out.
Maini was also caught up in the spin but he managed to bring his car back into the race.
A rolling start procedure was issued by the stewards for the restart for the remaining 6 laps of the Sprint.
Barnard got the launch he wanted keeping his lead from Bortoleto with a 2-second gap. Bearman got P11 back thanks to Maloney’s problems and was pushing O’Sullivan for P10. Fittipaldi puts pressure on Hadjar for the final point of the race.
Final lap and Barnard had a 5-second lead from Bortoleto. He crossed the line and took a commanding victory for the first time in F2 as Bortoleto and Hauger rounded out the podium places, with Antonelli taking the fastest lap in P4.
Colapinto, Stanek, Aron and Hadjar completed the top 8.
