Leonardo Fornaroli took a commanding win in the Formula 2 Sprint Race at Monza, resisting Arvid Lindblad’s pressure to take top spot on home soil.
Starting third, Fornaroli stormed into a lead that he maintained to the end to clinch the first victory for an Italian at Monza since Luca Ghiotto in 2017.
Lindblad came second, with Dino Beganovic falling from pole position to third, only to receive a five-second penalty, handing Joshua Durksen a podium.
Beganovic aces the start
Beganovic lined up on the grid in pole position for the Sprint Race, with Sami Meguetounif alongside him. Fornaroli aimed to extend his points lead from third.
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Richard Verschoor ended up starting 14th in the Sprint Race after having his best lap time deleted for causing a red flag in the closing minutes of qualifying.
As the lights went out, Beganovic led the field towards Turn 1. It was a strong start for the Swede, holding onto the lead.
Behind Beganovic, Fornaroli made a dive down the inside of Meguetounif, taking second place from the Trident driver in the process.
Verschoor and Victor Martins went wheel to wheel in the early corners, narrowly avoiding contact as they fought.
Meanwhile, Durksen seemed to struggle as he fell through the order from fourth to seventh during the opening exchanges.
Kush Maini caught the gravel and spun on Lap 2, Alex Dunne just pushing the Alpine Academy driver off the track through Curva Grande.
Maini’s ART Grand Prix was beached in the gravel, causing the Safety Car to be brought out. Dunne was put under investigation for the incident.
A clean Safety Car restart
Beganovic held onto the lead into the Safety Car restart, but quickly fell back in the nose of Fornaroli, who took the lead.
Further back, Dunne and Meguetounif both ran through the gravel exiting the opening chicane. Dunne had made a move, causing Meguetounif to leave the track.
Ollie Goethe took advantage of the incident, moving into fourth as Lindblad settled into second place.
Gabriele Mini made a move on Jak Crawford for eighth place, a far cry from his 15th-place race start. The home hero was making a strong recovery as the Sprint Race progressed.
On Lap 12, Martins dove into the pit lane, changing his front wing after picking up damage.
Elsewhere, Meguetounif climbed out of his Trident in the pit lane, unable to continue due to chassis damage.
Goethe spun onto the grass, the Red Bull junior dropping down through the order, ending up 14th, though he managed to get going again.
Meanwhile, out front, Fornaroli held a 0.7-second lead over Lindblad in second, with Beganovic 2.5s back from the Red Bull junior.
On Lap 17, Beganovic found himself under pressure from Durksen behind, the AIX driver closing the gap to just 0.5s.
As Verschoor looked around the outside of Roman Staněk, Max Esterson suffered an engine failure further down the back of the field.
Yellow flags were waved, which quickly became a Virtual Safety Car, Esterson managing to find a gap to park his smoking Trident.
With the Virtual Safety Car ending in the final lap of the race, Fornaroli held onto his lead, keeping Lindblad behind him in second and Beganovic in third.
However, Beganovic received a five-second penalty for a Virtual Safety Car infringement, which dropped him down to fifth as he took the chequered flag.
Verschoor had passed Stanek in the closing stages to boost his title bid with fourth place, while the penalised Beganovic sandwiched the Dutchman and Stanek.
It was a strong Saturday for Italian F2 drivers as Mini climbed from 15th to seventh, with Sunday’s pole-sitter Luke Browning closing out the points scorers.
After the race, the stewards concluded that Dunne had forced Maini off the circuit in their early-race exchange, the Irishman being handed a 10-second penalty, dropping him to 13th.
Meguetounif was also penalised, given a five-second penalty which converts into a three-place grid penalty for the Feature Race due to having not finished.
READ MORE – Luke Browning takes maiden pole in Monza F2 qualifying
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