Today’s Sprint Race was nothing short of entertaining. It delivered intense wheel-to-wheel battles, dramatic overtakes, and late-race twists from lights out to the chequered flag. John Bennett drove a fantastic race and secured a maiden victory.

Qualifying Recap

Noel León secured pole position in yesterdays Qualifying. It marked an impressive performance from Leon, who will lead the field away on Sunday in Spielberg.

Alex Dunne ended the session second, just 0.129s adrift of the pace, while Nikola Tsolov claimed third to complete an excellent result for Campos.

Championship leader Gabriele Minì qualified fourth, with Rafael Câmara completing the top five. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak secured sixth ahead of Oliver Goethe. It was Rafael Villagómez, John Bennett and Sebastián Montoya, who rounded out the top 10.

Lights Out

As usual for the Formula 2 Sprint race, it was a reverse grid which put Sebastián Montoya out on pole position. Additionally, weather conditions are scorching in Spielberg, with soaring track temperatures set to test not only the drivers but also the Pirelli tyres over the course of the Sprint Race.

Bennett got an excellent launch off the line, immediately seizing the inside line into Turn 1. He then completed the move on Montoya to take the race lead. Meanwhile, further back, Duerksen made contact with Tsolov at Turn 3. This sparked a multi-car incident that involved several drivers and left debris scattered across the circuit.

One of the biggest casualties of the opening-lap incident was Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, whose race ended immediately after he became caught up in the Turn 3 collision.

Meanwhile, Goethe spun after the contact between Duerksen and Tsolov. In addition, Beganovic picked up damage, while Fittipaldi also dropped out of contention following the incident.

The safety car was quickly deployed.

Safety Car Restart

Following the Safety Car restart, Bennett retained the lead at the front. Up behind Bennett, Camara produced a brilliant switchback move on Mini to snatch fourth place. Dunne also took advantage, clearing Mini on the exit of Turn 3 before immediately setting his sights on Camara.

Montoya remained glued to the rear wing of race leader Bennett, while Villagómez was on the verge of dropping out of DRS range to the Colombian. With DRS enabled, Montoya immediately piled the pressure on Bennett, forcing the race leader to defend into Turns 4 and 5.

Montoya launched a decisive move down the inside at Turn 4, completing the overtake on Bennett and took the lead of the race. Additionally, further back Bilinski produced a late-braking move into Turn 3. He dived to the inside of Leon and snatched seventh place.

Moments Of Calm

The drivers settled into a rhythm after the dramatic start. They began to focus on managing their tyres for the latter stages of the race, as the scorching sun was not doing them any favours.

Duerksen’s race came to an early end as he was forced to retire following the opening-lap incident.

Another Wave of Drama

Dunne began to pile the pressure on Camara in the battle for fourth as the gap shrank to well under half a second, putting the Trident driver firmly within striking distance. Soon after, Dunne completed the move with the help of DRS. He swept past Camara on the run to Turn 4 to take fourth place from the Brazilian.

However, Dunne was unable to break away after passing Camara. The battle for fourth place to continued on. Further drama unfolded in the closing stages as Colton Herta ran off the circuit and was out of the race. As a result, there was a Virtual Safety Car deployed.

Virtual Safety Car Ends

Racing resumed with Montoya leading Bennett by less than a second as the fight for victory entered its decisive phase. Further back, Mini launched a move on Camara into Turn 4 to snatch fifth place, although the Trident driver fought back immediately. However, the championship leader completed the pass at Turn 7 to secure the position.

As the race entered its final five laps, Bennett remained within DRS range of Montoya. However, the PREMA driver held firm at the front.

Final Laps

The gap between the top two was down to 0.7s as they flew across the line. Meanwhile, Tsolov’s recovery drive continued as the Bulgarian executed a bold move around the outside of teammate Leon at Turn 4 to climb into ninth place.

With just two laps remaining, Bennett had cut the gap to just half a second, setting up a thrilling finish in the fight for victory.

John Bennett Wins!

Montoya ran wide at Turn 1, allowing Bennett to close right onto the gearbox of the PREMA driver and secured the position. He executed a perfectly judged switchback out of Turn 4 to overtake Montoya and snatch the race lead in dramatic fashion.

John Bennett claimed his maiden FIA Formula 2 victory after a sensational final-lap overtake on Montoya. The Briton timed his move to perfection. This sealed a memorable first win in the championship.