F2 Austria: Bearman secures sprint win to end Prema's dry spell

Oliver Bearman scored his first Formula 2 victory since last year's Monza feature in the Red Bull Ring sprint race, the Prema driver convincingly leading all 28 laps.

Having pulled clear of DRS range in the early stages, Ferrari junior Bearman successfully managed the gap at the front to win by 1.7s even as Pepe Marti (Campos) edged back within range in the closing stages.

The Briton took advantage of polesitter Kush Maini struggling to gain traction off the start, which dropped the Invicta driver to third on the opening lap as Marti also leapt ahead.

Championship challenger Isack Hadjar also endured a tough start, an error on the opening lap dropping his Campos machine from fourth to 12th. Unable to recover, he finished out of the points in 13th.

Across the duration, Maini found himself acting as a rolling roadblock. His team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto, championship leader Paul Aron (Hitech), Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) and Jack Crawford (DAMS) all found ways past as he slid back to ultimately finish seventh.

Carrying front wing damage after contact with Maini on the opening lap, Marti did well to fend off the late attentions of Aron for second place, although the Estonian rookie continued his impressive streak of finishing on the podium at every race weekend of the season.

In a race that will not go down as a classic, the only incident of real note came on the last lap, as the two MP Motorsport drivers clashed on the exit of Turn 3.

Oliver Bearman (GBR, Prema Racing), 1st position, celebrates on arrival in Parc Ferme (Photo by: Mark Sutton)

Battling over fifth, Franco Colapinto made a bold DRS-assisted lunge on Hauger, but ran his team-mate off the track and over the sausage kerbs, before losing the rear of his own car when trying to put down the power. This caused the Argentinian to spin and make contact with the barriers, before recovering to finish 11th.

Bearman's victory also marked Prema’s first podium of the season, meaning all 11 teams have now featured in the top three this term.

Tough afternoons for Hadjar and Zane Maloney (Rodin) allowed Aron to extend his championship lead to 15 points.

F2 Austria Sprint Race Results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3		28	-
2	P. Martí Campos Racing	21		28	+1.700 1.7	1.700
3	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17		28	+3.000 3.0	1.300
4	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10		28	+3.600 3.6	0.600
5	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11		28	+11.000 11.0	7.400
6	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7		28	+11.600 11.6	0.600
7	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9		28	+13.700 13.7	2.100
8	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24		28	+13.800 13.8	0.100
9	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2		28	+15.800 15.8	2.000
10	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1		28	+19.800 19.8	4.000
11	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12		28	+21.500 21.5	1.700
12	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25		28	+22.300 22.3	0.800
13	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20		28	+22.800 22.8	0.500
14	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14		28	+23.600 23.6	0.800
15	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4		28	+23.700 23.7	0.100
16	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8		28	+26.400 26.4	2.700
17	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5		28	+27.100 27.1	0.700
18	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		28	+27.500 27.5	0.400
19	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15		28	+28.200 28.2	0.700
20	R. Verschoor Trident	22		28	+29.800 29.8	1.600
21	R. Staněk Trident	23		28	+29.800 29.8	0.000
22	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6		28	+46.900 46.9	17.100
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