Luke Browning took his maiden Formula 2 victory in a Safety Car-riddled Feature Race around Monza, as Joshua Durksen and Pepe Marti closed out the podium.
He started on pole and, despite momentarily losing the lead, the Safety Cars fell in his favour, allowing him to regain the lead and maintain it to the chequered flag.
An early fight for the lead
Browning led into Turn 1, while Stanek made an impressive start off the line, getting past Kush Maini to settle into third as the Alpine driver dropped down the order.
Further back, Sprint winner Leonardo Fornaroli faced a difficult start, with Jak Crawford on the Italian’s gearbox.
Maini’s travails continued as he ran into the gravel, fighting with Arvid Lindblad, the DAMS driver plummeting to the bottom of the pack.
Fornaroli set his sights on Victor Martins in eighth, but in the midst of wheel-to-wheel fighting, ran wide and was forced to take the run-off area back in 10th place.
Browning lost the lead as Ollie Goethe closed the gap and sailed through down the start-finish straight.
Browning remained close as Goethe dove into the pits on Lap 7. Stanek closed the gap to Browning to 0.4s, pulling back from a potential move as the gap hovered.
The margin between them reduced to 0.3s coming onto the straight next time around, but Stanek was unable to make a move stick as the pair negotiated Turn 1.
Lindblad ran into Alex Dunne into Ascari, sending the Irishman spinning into the gravel and out, while the Campos driver incurred sizeable damage to his front wing.
Chaos as racing went green
On the lead up to the restart following a Safety Car period to clear Dunne’s car, Cian Shields pre-empted the start, spinning on the main straight and hitting the wall.
Once the racing eventually resumed, Lindblad locked up massively into Turn 1, hitting the side of Stanek, which caused a massive incident.
A small pile-up in the opening corners ensued. Martins was spun around, bringing a premature end to his race, while Lindblad was under investigation for the incident.
Browning had a strong start once the action got going again on Lap 13, but Durksen had a stronger run into Turn 1 and took the lead.
However, Sami Meguetounif spun through the bollard in the run-off area, his car beached in the grass just off Rettifillo. Another Safety Car was brought out.
On Lap 16, the Safety Car was called into the pits, and the racing was ready to resume.
A clean restart
Durksen resumed racing into Parabollica. It was a strong restart for the AIX driver, who held on firmly to his lead, while Browning tucked in behind.
Durksen and Browning broke the DRS to Rafael Villagomez in third. With Josep Maria Marti desperate to get past and stay close to the front runners.
Fornaroli went side by side with Crawford but was unable to get past the American driver. In Parabollica, however, the Italian made the move for fifth place.
In seventh, Gabriele Minì closed on the back of Crawford, reducing the gap to just 0.3s. Despite having front wing damage, the Italian seemed able to fight.
Beganovic made a strong move around the outside of Ollie Goethe into the Lesmos, moving into eighth.
Coming onto Lap 23, Mini overtook Crawford on the start-finish straight, clearing the American as he came into Turn 1 to gain another place from 15th.
Just behind the Italian, Dino Beganovic also made quick work of the American, moving up to sixth as he received a tow from Mini on the start-finish straight.
Beganovic made a move on Minì on Lap 26, the Swede taking sixth place.
Closing stages of the action
Villagomez and Marti went wheel to wheel in the first chicane; the duo made light contact as the VAR driver ran wide, taking to the run-off area.
Beganovic closed the gap on Fornaroli on Lap 29, the gap just 0.250s into the opening corners.
Behind, Martì made a lunge on Durksen, once again running wide in the opening chicane, forced to take the run-off.
Browning took the chequered flag first, the driver securing his maiden victory in F2 to move up to second in the Drivers’ Championship in the process.
Durksen returned to the podium for the second time in the weekend, with Marti taking home the final piece of silverware.
Villagomez started the Feature Race in 16th and crossed the line in fourth, holding off Fornaroli, who came home fifth.
Beganovic wasn’t able to make it past Fornaroli, but it was another strong result for the Swede as he banked more points with sixth.
For Mini, it marked the end of a strong weekend, climbing through the order in both races as he ended the Feature Race in seventh.
Richard Verschoor, Sebastian Montoya and John Bennett closed out the points scorers.
READ MORE – Leonardo Fornaroli secures home win in Monza F2 Sprint Race
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