DAMS racer Alex Albon claimed victory during Sunday’s Formula 2 sprint race as he made a late pass to clinch the lead of the race.
Albon started fourth but was second by the first turn as pole sitter Artem Markelov and second-placed Sergio Sette Camara both bogged down at the start, lighting up their tyres as they tired to recover from a bad start.
That meant Campos’ Luca Ghiotto, from third on the grid, swept into the lead and managed to stay their until Lap 25, having built up a large gap. But the Russian Time driver’s advantage quickly diminished and Albon quickly caught and passed.
Ghiotto claimed second finishing just under two seconds ahead of Sette Camara.
McLaren-backed Lando Norris narrowly missed the podium after finishing 2.2s adrift of third, but made a brilliant double overtake at Turn 2 to move up from seventh place.
Rounding out the top five was MP Motorsport’s Roberto Merhi, making up six places in the race, ahead of Nirei Fukuzumi and Nyck de Vries who finished just one place higher than he started, but had been running as high as fifth at one stage.
George Russell stormed through to eighth from the very back to score some points in a difficult weekend for the championship leader who retired from Saturday’s feature race with engine trouble.
Charouz Racing’s Louis Deletraz was ninth ahead of Jack Aitken who dropped down the order throughout the race, which was a similar story for pole sitter Artem Markelov. The Russian bogged down at the start but managed to stay fourth, but had poor pace throughout the race and ended up a lowly 13th.
The opening lap saw a Virtual Safety Car after Roy Nissany, Ralph Boschung and Alessio Lorandi tangled, forcing the latter pair to retire from the race. Nissany recovered to P15.
Antonio Fuoco meanwhile had been running fourth but at the VSC restart caught Sette Camara napping, but unfortunately clipped the Carlin driver’s rear and damaged his front-wing, forcing him to stop for a change. He stalled as he exited his box and was then hit with a five-second penalty to eventually finish last of the runners in 17th.
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