Jak Crawford earned his first win of the 2024 Formula 2 season in the Barcelona Feature Race after overtaking pole-sitter Paul Aron.
Crawford snatched an early lead and capitalised on the safety cars and late pit stops to finish the race ahead of the Championship leader.
Juan Manuel Correa drove an excellent redemption race after losing his podium spot in the Sprint due to track limits, securing a spot on the podium.
Kimi Antonelli continued Prema Racing’s unlucky streak by stalling on the formation lap, failing to leave the line after qualifying in fifth and being forced to start from the pitlane.
Roman Stanek was also forced to start from the pitlane, as the rest of the grid lined up to compete in the cool conditions.
Aron got off to a great start before a massive shunt between Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger forced them into the gravel at Turn 3.
A safety car was immediately called after Martins was caught in a three-car pile-up going around the outside of Turn 2.
MP Motorsport driver Franco Colapinto launched his car straight off the line to overtake the second-runner Jak Crawford before the safety car.
Red Bull Junior driver Isack Hadjar made an excellent start in the opening lap, jumping six places to find himself in fifth place before the safety car.
Antonelli climbed from his backmarker position to 19th in the opening lap after starting in the pitlane, hoping to regain a place in the points.
The safety car went back into the pitlane on Lap 4, with Aron hanging onto his lead going into Turn 1 with Crawford tailing closely behind.
Prema Racing driver Oliver Bearman looked to improve on his disastrous Sprint race yesterday, climbing from 15th to ninth by Lap 5.
As light rain began to fall in Sector 3, the drivers looked to manage their tyres well during the early stages of the Feature race.
At the front of the pack, Aron led the DAMS driver Crawford by 2.3s going into Lap 6 as he clocked in the fastest lap of the race.
The top five drivers going into Lap 8 were all on the soft tyres with signs of degradation early in the race as light rainfall began.
A three-way battle for seventh place between Ritomo Miyata, Zak O’Sullivan, and Bearman saw the drivers inch within a second of each other.
Crawford, Miyata, and Stanek entered the pits on Lap 7 to get rid of their soft tyres for hard tyres, aiming to undercut their competitors.
Drivers on hard tyres such as O’Sullivan, Antonelli, and Taylor Barnard are predicted to last longer in the race but the possibility of rain could throw a spanner in the works.
The first round of pit stops between Laps 7 to 10 saw drivers like Zane Maloney and Enzo Fittipaldi opt for hard tyres instead of the softs.
Due to the early round of pit stops, Mercedes Junior Driver Antonelli found himself in 14th place looking to climb to the points-scoring position.
The race leader Aron continued setting the fastest lap on the soft tyres on Lap 11 but chose to enter the pits at the end of the lap.
Suffering a slow stop, Aron almost lost the place to Colapinto following behind in the pitlane but regained track position ahead of his nearest competitors.
Aron was quickly overtaken by Crawford who opted for the undercut, losing the ninth position to the DAMS driver.
Barnard unexpectedly stopped heading into the inside of the pitlane, calling a Virtual Safety Car which bunched up the field on Lap 14.
Ending heading into the first turn, DRS was enabled as Aron looked to regain his position as he fell under pressure from Gabriel Bortoleto behind.
After a brilliant start, Hadjar was held back by Maloney who blocked the Red Bull Junior from snatching the 13th position around Turn 3.
A horrific mistake from Aron saw him run wide into the gravel in an attempt to overtake Crawford at Turn 14 on Lap 15, losing three positions.
Finally making the move, Bearman snatched the position from Miyata going into Turn 3 after using the undercut.
The leading driver on the alternative strategy, Josh Duerksen, fell to the bottom of the grid after leading the race by six seconds.
Duerksen was holding out for a late pit stop but stopped on track and forced a second virtual safety car before retiring from the race.
The top six drivers on Lap 20 during the Virtual Safety Car had yet to pit, including Antonelli who climbed up to sixth.
Correa led the grid after the restart, as Aron snatched the tenth position from the inside of O’Sullivan at Turn 1.
The first black and white flag was waved to Bearman, hoping to improve on his Sprint race finish outside of the points.
O’Sullivan lost another position on Lap 21 to Hadjar trying to force his way back into contention for the points.
The battle continued between Bortoleto and Colapinto who scrapped going into Sector 1, both aiming to end the race on the podium.
Colapinto tried to overtake the Invicta Racing driver leaving Turn 1 on Lap 22 but failed to make the move as Bortoleto blocked the Argentinian.
With 15 laps to go, Maloney snatched another position from O’Sullivan on the main straight heading into Lap 23 to move to 12th.
Finally making the move, Colapinto gets past Bortoleto going into Turn 2 of Lap 23 with incredibly late breaking after using the slipstream.
With brilliant pace, Aron set the fastest lap in Lap 23, targeting Bortoleto to regain track position.
To make matters worse, O’Sullivan was shown black and white flags for exceeding track limits during Lap 25.
The top six drivers failed to create a sufficient gap to the drivers behind on fresher tyres, holding out for a safety car.
Crawford found himself within a second of Antonelli on old hard tyres, building up a slipstream on the main straight.
Going around the inside of the Prema Racing driver at Turn 4 on Lap 26, Crawford climbed back up to fifth.
Antonelli was tailed by Colapinto looking to attack Crawford ahead, falling within 1.6s of the Mercedes Junior Driver.
The race leader finally entered the pitlane on Lap 27 with 10 laps to go, opting for soft tyres to secure points in the Championship.
Kush Maini also entered the pits to put on the softs, meanwhile Aron dived around the inside of Bortoleto at Turn 1 to move up to fifth.
Crawford regained the lead of the race after the final pit stops were taken, leading Colapinto by 3.5s going into Lap 29.
Correa climbed up to seventh after his pit stop, overtaking Maloney for the position around the outside of Turn 7.
Antonelli left the pitlane in 17th place with just seven laps to go, while his Prema Racing teammate in 11th.
Correa claimed fifth place on his fresh tyres, overtaking both Hadjar and Bortoleto on Lap 31 to make his way back up to the podium slots.
He then snatched the podium spot from the Championship leader Aron heading into Lap 33 at Turn 1, redeeming his lost podium from the Sprint yesterday.
Setting purple sectors across the board, Correa was two seconds quicker than the top five each lap in the hunt for the lead.
As the soft tyres began to wear, Correa laid off his chase on Colapinto in second place and cruised to a third-place spot on the podium.
The two Invicta Racing drivers touch in the fight for sixth place on the final lap leaving Turn 1, ruining their chances of catching Hadjar.
Aron found himself in fourth after losing his early lead ahead of Hadjar and the two Invicta Racing drivers occupying the sixth and seventh spots.
Amaury Cordeel finished ahead of Pepe Marti who took the last points-scoring spot ahead of both Prema Racing cars.
