Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman drove a controlled race in the Formula 2 Monza sprint to record his second victory of the year.
Having started from eighth, this following a five place grid penalty for causing a collision with Pepe Marti last time out at Spa Francorchamps, Prema driver Bearman swiftly climbed the order.
He went wheel-to-wheel with ART driver Victor Martins, then clinched the lead when Marti's Campos machine locked up under braking for the Rettifilo chicane on lap seven.
For the remaining distance, the future Haas Formula 1 driver looked comfortable managing the gap to Martins, which at the finish stood at 1.6 seconds.
As Marti fell back to fourth, Joshua Durksen claimed his second podium of the season – his previous silverware coming in the Imola feature race.
The race got off to a frantic start with the safety car called into action before the end of the first lap. On the run to the Rettifilo chicane, Zak O’Sullivan (ART) moved across the track in the pack and made contact with the rear of debutant Oliver Goethe (MP Motorsport) – the German replacing new Williams F1 driver Franco Colapinto.
As O’Sullivan crawled to a halt, Mercedes-bound Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema) got caught up in the melee and suffered significant front end damage, although he would continue to finish in 18th after pitting.
Isack Hadjar (Campos) had arrived in Monza with a 41-point lead over rival Paul Aron (Hitech), who sits third in the championship, but was enduring a tough sprint race in 13th for the most part following a tardy start.
Pepe Marti (ESP, Campos Racing), leads Paul Aron (EST, Hitech Pulse-Eight), Victor Martins (FRA, ART Grand Prix), Oliver Bearman (GBR, Prema Racing), and the rest of the field at the start of the F2 race
Aron had made a far stronger launch and was looking to progress from his seventh position when an overly ambitious move on feature race pole sitter Zane Maloney damaged the Estonian's front wing and dropped him to the back of the pack.
Second in the title battle is Gabriel Bortoleto, who recovered strongly from a qualifying crash that has consigned him to the back of the grid for both races to eighth and score a single point. With Hadjar only able to finish tenth, his advantage was trimmed marginally to 35 points.
But with Aron and Hadjar lining up second and third for the feature race, Bortoleto faces a far sterner test to limit the damage on Sunday.
Such has been the challenge of Bearman’s difficult season that his victory moves him onto 44 points and to 14th in the standings only - a staggering 121 points off the summit.
-
+1.600
1.6
+7.200
7.2
+12.800
12.8
+13.400
13.4
+13.400
13.4
+13.500
13.5
+14.800
14.8
+14.800
14.8
+16.100
16.1
+17.100
17.1
+19.100
19.1
+22.800
22.8
+23.300
23.3
+24.900
24.9
+29.400
29.4
+29.700
29.7
+32.500
32.5
+48.800
48.8
1 lap
Source: Autosport