Day 2-
Temperatures were much cooler for the Sprint compared to Friday’s Qualifying and there was a mix of tyres on the gird, with 12 cars fitted with the Softs while the rest chose Hards.
Two of those drivers on the Hards were pole-sitter Verschoor and his fellow front starter Maini, and while they made good starts, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had fired up his tyres from P4 and went round the outside of the Invicta car at Turn 2 to take second.
His fellow drivers on the red tyres were also flying as Gabriel Bortoleto and Enzo Fittipaldi moved up to P6 and P7 respectively by overtaking Isack Hadjar.
By the end of Lap 5, Antonelli was over two seconds clear out front, while Maini was beginning to close in on Verschoor for P2, with Martins just behind.
On to Lap 7, and Fittipaldi was showing strong pace in his Van Amersfoort Racing car and overtook his fellow option tyre runner Bortoleto for P6, going round his compatriot’s outside at Turn 1.
But as the drivers set of on lap 11, what had been a lead of over two second for Antonelli had now been close to 1.6s.
Further back, Maini had also created a gap of over two seconds to Martins, who was now defending from Dennis Hauger in the battle for P4.
Verschoor was now right on the back of Antonelli as they started lap 16, but the PREMA driver was resisting each attack. However, he could not hold on much longer, running wide at the final corner before locking up into Turn 1 allowing both Verschoor and Maini through.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, his lock up had proven costly as he was falling through the field with Martins, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Hadjar all making their way past before PREMA made the call to pit him for a set of Hards.
Back in the midfield, Paul Aron was looking to make up the positions he lost at the start as one of the prime tyre runners and went round the outside of Jak Crawford at Turn 2 for P12, despite the American’s attempts to take back the position at T4.
But as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver was battling to get back into the points, his Championship rival Hadjar was up to fourth after overtaking Fittipaldi and Hauger on lap 21.
Fittipaldi was also struggling on his softs and after losing out to Hauger and Colapinto, he suffered a puncture on his left front tyre forcing him to pit.
By the final lap, Verschoor had built a two-second gap out front and crossed the line to take his fourth Formula 2 victory ahead of Maini, with Martins taking the final podium spot.
However… Richard Verschoor has been disqualified from the results, as the plank on his car was below the minimum thickness required and lost the race win.
So the new full top 10 are- P1: Maini, P2: Martins, P3: Hadjar, P4: Hauger, P5: Colapinto, P6: Aron, P7: Barnard, P8: Correa, P9: Crawford and P10: Bearman.
Day 3-
It was a slow start for pole-sitter, Paul Aron, made worse by his lock up that forced him to go deep at Turn 1, dropping him to seventh.
But it was an outstanding getaway from Martins, who was in the lead before approaching the opening corner after starting fifth.
The Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie’s hope of eating into Isack Hadjar’s 20-points championship lead took an early dent despite the Campos Racing driver being forced to start from the pit lane after leaving for the grid late.
Martins was under pressure from front row starter, Enzo Fittipaldi with Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto just behind them, with Hard tyre runners Zane Maloney and Antonelli in fourth and fifth respectively.
A Safety Car was required moments later when Aron, looking to dive down the inside of Hauger, carried too much speed into Turn 2 and went into the back of Maloney, causing both drivers to spin into a stop.
This allowed several of the soft tyre runners, such as Martins, Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger, O’Sullivan, 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 was in good form though, building up a lead of over three seconds to Verschoor by lap 13.
Just behind, Martins now on the better tyre in P4 and putting pressure on Maini. The ART driver was up to third on lap 15, going down the inside of the Invicta driver at Turn 1, with Bortoleto doing the same moments later on Amaury Cordeel for P6, Fittipaldi following through shortly afterwards.
Martins’ next target was Verschoor, and he was within DRS range of the Trident by lap 18 and dived 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 at Turn 4.
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.
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.
Verchoor made a last lap overtake on Bortoleto to take P3 with Fittipaldi.
The full top 10 are- P1: Antonelli, P2: Martins, P3: Verschoor, P4: Bortoleto, P5: Fittipaldi, P6: Hauger, P7: Maini, P8: Miyata, P9: Barnard and P10: Villagomez.
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