Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Prema driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli was in a class of one as he registered his first Formula 2 win from pole in the soaking wet sprint race at Silverstone.
On a wet weekend at Silverstone, the rain returned just in time for the start which saw race control opt for a rolling start controlled by polesitter Antonelli.
An early scrap involving Austrian sprint race winner Oliver Bearman, Invicta’s Gabriel Bortoleto and the DAMS of Jak Crawford, which saw the British driver suffer front wing damage and drop down the order, was halted by a virtual safety car on lap three to allow marshals to collect debris dropped by Bearman.
Half a lap after racing had resumed, the safety car was called and then quickly upgraded to a red flag due to conditions as the rain intensified.
The rain relented after a 14-minute suspension and the race resumed on lap five, with two laps behind the safety car, before Antonelli pulled off another flawless restart.
As Antonelli again pulled clear, the battling Invicta pair of Kush Maini and Bortoleto went wheel-to-wheel over third place, taking pressure off Maloney.
But the racing was again paused on lap eight as the safety car was deployed after a collision involving Pepe Marti (Campos) and Paul Aron (Hitech) – the former piling into the back of the championship leader who had been forced offline and had slowed with severe wheelspin. It is the first time this season that Aron has failed to finish.
In a separate incident, Isack Hadjar, second in the standings going into the race, retired with his Campos-run car in the gravel at Copse.
On lap 13 of 21, and with less than 15 minutes remaining on the clock, racing resumed once again.
Quietly making progress, Victor Martins – who will start the feature race from second on Sunday – had gained positions on every restart but tangled with his ART team-mate Zak O’Sullivan at The Loop when the Brit dived up the inside. At the same time, Bearman pulled off the track with a technical problem.
Restarting with four minutes to go, Antonelli was able to stroke it home with Maloney over five seconds back. Bortoleto, who passed Maini with a stunning final corner move, was third but having gone over the white lines to complete the move, the incident was swiftly noted by the stewards.
Bortoleto moves to 91 points and Maloney to 83, as both close the gap on to the top two in the standings with both Aron and Hadjar failing to finish, so they remain on 117 and 108 points respectively.
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+8.600
8.6
+10.800
10.8
+11.200
11.2
+18.000
18.0
+18.700
18.7
+20.100
20.1
+20.900
20.9
+21.300
21.3
+24.200
24.2
+25.700
25.7
+28.000
28.0
+29.700
29.7
+32.500
32.5
+33.100
33.1
+33.900
33.9
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Source: Autosport