DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford claimed victory in the Formula 2 Sprint Race at Imola, becoming the fifth different winner of the season.
The American stormed off the line from second place to take the lead from polesitter Ritomo Miyata and hung on for the win.
Arvid Lindblad applied the pressure late on after climbing up the order to second place, but couldn’t hunt down Crawford before the end of the race.
Luke Browning claimed the final spot on the podium for ART.
Championship leader Richard Verschoor started the race down in 19th place after a poor qualifying session on Saturday.
Miyata lined up from pole for ART, ahead of Crawford and MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe.
Kush Maini was demoted to 13th place after his fastest lap time in qualifying was deleted.
The Indian racing driver lost control of his car at Turn 4, triggering a red flag and ending the session early.
The stewards ruled him as the sole cause of the red flag and handed him a penalty – he was set for a front row start in the Sprint before being penalised.
Crawford victorious in F2 Sprint Race at Imola
As the five lights went out, Crawford got off the line well and soon took the race lead from Miyata.
In the background, Sami Meguetounif failed to get away in his Trident car and returned to the track in last place after a trip through the pits.
Lindblad made a strong start for Campos Racing, moving up to third, while Goethe dropped down the field and into 12th place.
On Lap 1, both Pepe Marti and Gabrielle Mini ran wide at Turn 5, the Campos driver damaging his front-wing endplate.
As a result, the first and second drivers in the championship found themselves stuck in 16th and 17th respectively.
Victor Martins for ART also made a good start and jumped up three places into fifth place.
By Lap 5, Crawford had built a one-second lead, protecting himself from the threat of DRS.
However, just a few laps later, Miyata closed the gap again, getting within a second to put pressure on the race leader.
The DRS battle raged on, and by Lap 9, the Japanese driver began to feel the heat from Lindblad, who closed in behind as Miyata fell out of Crawford’s DRS range once more.
On Lap 12, Lindblad completed the overtake after failing to get by on the previous lap.
Sunday’s polesitter, Dino Beganovic, ran wide in his Hitech car while chasing Joshua Durksen, allowing Roman Stanek to move into ninth.
On Lap 14, Browning passed Miyata to take third place into Turn 1.
The following lap, Martins made a straightforward move to pass his teammate for fourth place.
Stanek took the final point-scoring position off Durksen for Invicta Racing as Alex Dunne lined up his move on Miyata ahead.
The Rodin Motorsport driver completed the overtake before Turn 1 with the DRS, to take fifth place on Lap 18.
At the front, Crawford maintained a two-second gap to Lindblad with eight laps remaining in the Sprint.
On Lap 22, Amaury Cordeel had an off moment in his Rodin car with the yellow flags momentarily waving before he got going again.
Lindblad closed in on the race leader, the gap down to a second and a half, as Verschoor came into the pits to retire the car – another difficult day for the MP Motorsport driver.
By Lap 24, Browning, Martins and Dunne fought closely for the final podium spot.
Crawford held firm under late pressure from Lindblad to secure the win, while Browning successfully defended his spot to round out the Sprint Race podium.
Martins settled for fourth with Dunne in fifth place – polesitter Miyata eventually crossed the line in sixth.
The Invicta duo of Leonardo Fornaroli and Stanek secured the final points in the Sprint, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
READ MORE – Dino Beganovic takes pole in Imola after red flag ends F2 qualifying early
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