Fourth weekend in Formula 2 and a new championship leader is taking the crown away from Verschoor. After a stunning performance, the rookie Alexander Dunne takes the win in Imola, and the championship lead with it.
This Imola feature race was really enjoyable. Drama, track actions and surprises were in order of the day. It began even before the start, with Sebastián Montoya stalling, and therefore, had to start from the pitlane. Two strategies could be seen as nine drivers were on soft, while the others were on super soft tyres. If everyone in ART believed it was finally time for Victor Martins to shine, they couldn’t be more wrong as the Frenchman also stalled on the start of the race and had to be dragged back into the pit to make his car start out.
In the meantime, Dino Beganovic managed to keep the lead and even created a small gap with Fornaroli behind. Behind, Sami Meguetounif went a bit wide into the gravel at Turn 2. Dino Beganovic complained about Victor Martins in front of him, even though there was a gap between them, with Martins being a lap behind. On lap 4, Arvid Lindblad had a bit more traction and tried to attack Fornaroli.
Chaos in the pit
Super soft tyres didn’t last long, that’s why on lap 7, six drivers pitted for soft tyres. However, Jak Crawford and Luke Browning, on super soft, waited one more lap to pit. While in the pit, Leonardo Fornaroli had to wait for the others to pass, causing him to lose two positions, while Alexander Dunne managed to virtually take P2. Dunne tried to attack Beganovic, but was hindered by Browning in cold tyres in front. Beganovic wanted to stay on the outside at the next turn but was too wide, the McLaren academy driver took P12. With more prepared tyres, the Rodin driver passed the Williams academy driver and virtually took the lead of the race. Sami Meguetounif seemed to have a good rhythm with two beautiful overtakes on Montoya and Villagómez. Cian Shields took a 5-seconds penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
A yellow flag to change it all
On lap 14, a contact between Meguetounif and Villagómez resulted in the Van Amersfoort driver having a puncture and DNF. With the safety car on lap 16, Minì and Bennett pitted for super soft, which would be tricky as 18 laps remained when the green flag was waved. Alexander Dunne directly overtook Max Esterson, which prevented him from being attacked by Browning. He continued to grab positions by passing his teammate. Amaury Cordeel was playing a team game by blocking Luke Browning behind him, which helped Dunne. Luke Browning finally passed Cordeel on lap 24, while Dunne overtook Miyata but a contact between the front wing of the ART and Rodin’s tyre was made.
The Irish driver took the lead on lap 27. Miyata is the first on an alternative strategy to pit. Gabriele Minì couldn’t keep the rhythm on his super soft, Lindblad and Fornaroli took the upper hand. He pitted again on lap 30. All drivers pitted on lap 31 except for Staněk that tried to help his teammate Fornaroli to pass Arvid Lindblad. He finally pitted two laps later. Finally, Alexander Dunne won with a 7 seconds margin and Hitech, with a brilliant strategy, made a double podium with Luke Browning in P2 and Dino Beganovic in P3. It was also the first ever point in Formula 2 for Sami Meguetounif. For now, only four drivers remains without a point this season.