Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
Victor Martins put on a masterclass to get his F2 campaign back on track with victory in the Spanish Sprint race.
The ART driver had struggled across the opening rounds of the new season but showed his full ability as he converted a second-place starting position into the lead by Turn 1 and never looked back.
Martins would lead home Ritomo Miyata, though the Rodin driver was demoted to eighth after receiving two five-second penalties for abusing track limits.
The Japanese driver was far from alone in his track limits breaches, with Roman Stanek (Trident) and Zane Maloney (Rodin) both sanctioned while Franco Colapinto, Dennis Hauger (both MP Motorsport) and Maloney, again, all subject to post-race investigations.
After a poor start from pole, Kush Maini (Invicta) dropped back to fifth in the opening exchanges but made quick work of climbing back to the tail of Miyata.
Not only was it Martins’ first trip to the podium this season, but it was also the first piece of silverware for Juan Manuel Correa (DAMS) since the horrific crash in Belgium in 2019 in which he sustained multiple injuries.
Juan Manuel Correa, Dams
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
He made a penultimate lap move on Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta), whose tyres had dropped off the cliff.
It was another day to forget for Prema as well, as both Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman struggled, with the former finishing P10 and the latter dropping like a stone to the rear of the pack before pitting. He returned to the track and finished in P21, 41s off the pace.
In truth, the action was limited with cars quickly forming DRS trains and being forced to manage tyres due to the extremely high levels of degradation that are common on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Paul Aron (Hitech) maintained his championship lead with a fourth-place finish while his chief rival, Isack Hadjar (Campos) could manage only seventh.
Maloney’s slide down drivers’ standings continued as the once championship leader came home in P19.
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Source: Autosport