Maini started the feature race from pole position and with two points in his pocket, by virtue of Oliver Bearman’s withdrawal from the weekend in order to replace Carlos Sainz at the Ferrari Formula 1 outfit with the Spaniard rendered unfit through appendicitis.
While the Invicta driver made a perfect start, things were wild behind with double-podium winner from Bahrain Pepe Marti losing the rear of his Campos entry on the exit of Turn 2 and spinning into the path of Trident driver Roman Staněk.
While Marti initially blamed the spin on contact from Franco Colapinto, the MP Motorsport driver picking up damage in the incident, replays cleared him of guilt.
Gabriel Bortoleto was another early retiree, pulling his Invicta entry off the track with a mechanical problem while the safety car allowed for the Turn 2 clear-up to be completed.
The race saw only four drivers – Staněk, Bortoleto, Juan Manuel Correa, Taylor Barnard and Amaury Cordeel – start on the medium tyre, with the remainder of the field using the supersoft option. On lap six, after completing the minimum distance on the softest rubber, the pack began to file into the pitlane to complete their mandated stops.
Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort Racing) had started from fourth and, after dropping behind Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the opening exchanges, promoted himself to the net race lead on lap 13, using DRS to pass a defenceless Maini.
Source: Autosport