Day 1, Free Practice-
Oliver Bearman returned from the summer break and hit the ground running at Zandvoort, topping Free Practice for PREMA Racing with a 1:22.715.
The Brit ended up 0.396s clear of MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger in second, and his teammate Frederik Vesti in third, just 0.073s further back.
Looking to get some dry laps under his belt after a wet Spa-Francorchamps debut, PHM Racing by Charouz’s Joshua Mason got some laps in early.
The track continued to rubber in quickly, with Jak Crawford going half a second clear in P1 on his next lap. His Hitech Pluse-Eight teammate Isack Hadjar displaced him before Bearman, Ayumu Iwasa and then Martins took over.
Vesti was next to set the quickest time, going one tenth clear with 20 minutes to go until Hauger put home team MP Motorsport on top with a 1:23.111.
Martins had another minor off after running deep at Turn 11 but carried on without issue.
Qualifying-
Jak Crawford proved to the other drivers, how you start the session matters as much as how you finish, as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver secured his maiden Formula 2 pole position.
As the American driver laid down a 1:21.210 on his second attempt of the Circuit, as three red flags denied the field a chance to improve.
Dennis Hauger looked to have the pace but couldn’t complete his final two runs and was forced to settle for second by just 0.034s. Frederik Vesti bounced back after his disappointing weekend in Spa before the summer break by securing third.
After the field pitted for their second sets of softs, disaster stuck for provisional pole sitter Crawford, the Hitech driver was forced to pit as he had a damaged front wing after contact with Novalak.
Jehan Daruvala brought running to a halt with seven minutes remaining, spinning off on the exit of Turn 3 to trigger the Red Flag.
After another red flag, it was a one lap shootout with less than four minutes left and Hauger continued to improved, but nobody could record a final time, as Novalak brought a red flag where he hit the barriers at Turn 3.
Day 2, Sprint Race-
Drama already began to unfold before lights out, as the expected rain fell on the Circuit Zandvoort. Championship leader, Pourchaire wasn’t able to take the start from reverse grid pole after a mechanical issue, forced the ART driver to being from the pit lane.
Hadjar left it late on the rolling start, bolting off down the main straight to fend off Martin’s advances. Bearman pounced on Juan Manuel Correa, sliding past the Van Amersfoort Racing driver sliding past at Turn 1 for third.
At the end of the top 10, contact between Kush Maini and Jake Crawford sent both cars spinning off at Turn 5, with Ralph Boschung unable to avoid colliding with his Campos Racing teammate. The Safety Car was deployed before being switch out for a Red Flag on Lap 3, as all three drivers clambered out of their cars.
Following the lengthy break due to barrier repairs, the race was expected to resume with 22 minutes left on the clock, but the heavy downpours returned as Hadjar led the field back out behind the Safety Car.
Given the torrential conditions, the Red Flag was waved for a second time, and it was swiftly confirmed that the race will not be restarted.
The full top 10 are- P1: Hadjar, P2: Martins, P3: Bearman, P4: Correa, P5: Maloney, P6: Doohan, P7: Vesti, P8: Novalak, P9: Hauger and P10: Daruvala.
However, no points were awarded due to the lack of racing and not going past the halfway mark.
Day 3, Feature Race-
Racing got underway with a rolling start in slipper conditions and Crawford got a perfect launch to retain the lead.
Behind him, Championship contender Vesti suffered a spin at Turn 1 to fall from third to 19th position, while PREMA Racing teammate Oliver Bearman was tagged by Juan Manuel Correa and ran wide into the gravel at Turn 1.
Victor Martins followed him off the track and both resumed in 14th and 15th respectively. Jack Doohan was another driver to hit trouble early, spinning in the last corner to bring out a Safety Car before the completion of Lap 1.
Maloney was the first of the leading pack to make their mandatory pitstop from fourth position, switching from softs to mediums on lap 8. That pulled in leader Crawford, Dennis Hauger from P2 and Correa in third on the following lap.
Championship leader, Pourchaire spun off the circuit whilst on his outlap after pitting, which caused him to crash out of the race at Turn 7.
It then brought out the Safety Car but not before PREMA double-stacked their drivers. Vesti’s hope of retaking the lead of the Championship were dashed almost immediately though, losing both rear tyres on his outlap and he was too out of the running.
After all the drama, Novalak led the pack having stopped just prior to the Safety Car intervention. Crawford followed ahead of Maloney, Verschoor, Martins, Bearman, Hauger, Fittipaldi and Cordeel in the top 10.
Maloney had the momentum into Turn 1 and passed Crawford around the outside to take second. Behind them, Bearman looked to have a move done on Martins for fifth but the pair made contact on the exit of Turn 3, sending the PREMA driver into the barriers.
With the Safety Car interventions, the race ran to time rather than the original 40 scheduled laps. With under 10 minutes to go, Maloney began to hunt down Novalak, closing to within two seconds and bringing Crawford in third along with him.
The full top 10 are- P1: Novalak, P2: Maloney, P3: Crawford, P4: Verschoor, P5: Hauger, P6: Hadjar, P7: Fittipaldi, P8: Cordeel, P9: Martins and P10: Correa.
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