Maloney climbed from eighth to top the podium in Friday’s opening race of the F2 season and put on another fine display on Saturday to establish an early championship lead with a maiden feature race win.
Maloney went against the trend to start on soft tyres but was able to switch onto the harder rubber late on to maintain his advantage after a safety car interruption.
Front row pair Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar endured a dreadful start as the pair collided at Turn 1 after being jumped by Maloney.
While the majority of the field were able to avoid Hadjar’s stricken car, Enzo Fittipaldi was the unlucky party as he ploughed into Hadjar’s sidepod with his Van Amersfoort Racing entry, causing the safety car to be called into action.
Both drivers retired on the spot while Bortoleto, who sustained front wing damage, was handed a 10-second penalty.
Williams Academy driver Zak O’Sullivan and MP Motorsport driver Dennis Hauger climbed to second and third in the early melee, both on hard tyres.
After the safety car returned to the pits, Jak Crawford began to make moves through the order on his soft rubber, passing Hauger at Turn 10 for fourth.
This momentum was tempered when he was among a handful of drivers to have been noted for a safety car infringement, although no further action was the eventual ruling.
Also making moves was Pepe Marti, who was freed by the hard-shod O’Sullivan into second after starting in 11th.
At the end of lap 10, Martins was the first driver to pit for their mandatory stop, switching onto the soft tyres with 22 laps still to complete, dropping from 11th to the rear of the field.
Another early stopper was PHM AIX driver Taylor Barnard who, after a slow stop, was forced to return to the pits after his right rear tyre was not fitted correctly.
Oliver Bearman’s day had gotten off to a poor start as he was forced into the pits at the start with a technical issue.
But as he headed for the pits to take his mandatory stop, he came together with Amaury Cordeel, leading to the latter’s retirement. Shortly after, Bearman lost a front wing endplate as a result of the contact.
Source: Autosport