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Megan White

F2 Imola: Armstrong holds off Daruvala for sprint race win

The Hitech driver passed polesitter Logan Sargeant at the start and managed to hold off the quick-running Jehan Daruvala to take his first win of the season.

Williams junior driver Sargeant suffered excess wheel spin on the grid, leaving him to flounder in fifth as he was also swallowed up by Prema team-mates Daruvala and Dennis Hauger, as well as DAMS racer Roy Nissany.

Nissany's excellent start briefly put him into third position, before reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Hauger cleared him to score his maiden F2 podium, holding position behind Daruvala to the flag.

There was a first lap safety car after David Beckmann, driving in place of an injured Cem Bolukbasi at Charouz, went off at the Tamburello chicane, while Clement Novalak suffered a broken front wing on his MP Motorsport-run car after he was unable to avoid the spinning German.

There were contrasting fortunes for championship leader Felipe Drugovich (MP Motorsport) and feature race polesitter Juri Vips (Hitech). Drugovich started 12th after a poor qualifying on Friday, but had made it up to seventh by the end of the first lap, while Vips ran wide and dropped to the back of the pack.

As racing resumed on lap five, Armstrong continued to fend off Daruvala and Hauger, the Norwegian seemingly untroubeld by a loose sidepod cover. Further back, Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire (ART) both made it past Ralph Boschung in the battle for sixth, before the Campos Racing driver came to a halt at Turn 1 to prompt a virtual safety car.

The front three had built up a five-second gap to Nissany in fourth place by the halfway point, with the Israeli driver holding off Sargeant and Drugovich. Nissany gradually pulled away from Sargeant, who lost out to Drugovich on the start-finish straight in the closing laps.

Armstrong held firm to take his first win since the first Jeddah sprint race in 2021 by 1.4 seconds over Daruvala, the Kiwi moving up to fifth in the standings as a result and just three points behind Daruvala in third.

Hauger brought home a first F2 podium in third (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

Behind Nissay, Drugovich continued his run of scoring points in every race this year and extended his advantage over Liam Lawson (Carlin) to 14.

Pourchaire finished seventh, with Lawson taking the final point in eighth after an early pass on Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS).

Following his early brush with the gravel, Vips made his way back up to 15th at the chequered flag but couldn't trouble the points-scorers.

F2 Imola Sprint Race Results - 25 laps

Cla Driver Team Time Gap
1 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong United Kingdom HitechGP -  
2 India Jehan Daruvala Italy Prema Powerteam 1.400 1.400
3 Norway Dennis Hauger Italy Prema Powerteam 2.200 2.200
4 Israel Roy Nissany France DAMS 2.800 2.800
5 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Netherlands MP Motorsport 7.000 7.000
6 United States Logan Sargeant United Kingdom Carlin 9.800 9.800
7 France Theo Pourchaire France ART Grand Prix 12.300 12.300
8 New Zealand Liam Lawson United Kingdom Carlin 12.800 12.800
9 Japan Ayumu Iwasa France DAMS 13.400 13.400
10 Denmark Frederik Vesti France ART Grand Prix 17.700 17.700
11 Australia Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing 20.100 20.100
12 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 21.000 21.000
13 Netherlands Richard Verschoor Italy Trident 21.400 21.400
14 Australia Calan Williams Italy Trident 22.900 22.900
15 Estonia Jüri Vips United Kingdom HitechGP 23.200 23.200
16 Japan Marino Sato Virtuosi Racing 24.200 24.200
17 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell Spain Campos Racing 24.600 24.600
18 United Kingdom Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 25.800 25.800
19 Switzerland Clement Novalak Netherlands MP Motorsport 26.200 26.200
  Switzerland Ralph Boschung Spain Campos Racing 16 laps  
  Germany David Beckmann Czech Republic Charouz Racing System    
  Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing    
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