UNI Virtuosi's Luca Ghiotto claimed victory in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race at Silverstone after a fierce early race battle with DAMS' Nicholas Latifi.
Ghiotto got by polesitter and team-mate Guanyu Zhou on the opening lap before the Italian then became locked in a furious battle with Latifi after the pair made their pit stops.
Once Ghiotto got by the Canadian on lap 11 out of 29, he was able to pull away and gap the chasing pack, continuously battling to take the fastest lap against Latifi and Sergio Sette Camara in the second DAMS car.
Latifi took second 3.3 seconds behind Ghiotto as he was unable to chase down the Italian despite coming close, gently nudging Ghiotto into the Maggots and Becketts complex.
Zhou held on for third to claim a fourth podium of the season. Sette Camara tried to hunt down the Chinese driver but was unable to get by despite claiming the fastest lap of the race.
Campos Racing's Jack Aitken crossed the line in fifth. He was able to get by championship leader Nyck De Vries with a handful of laps to go, putting a stunning move on the Dutchman into Village and The Loop.
ART's de Vries couldn't improve on his starting position ending the race in sixth, losing points to his championship rivals who all finished in front of him.
Louis Deletraz finished the race in seventh, narrowly missing out on sixth by taking the chequered flag half a second behind de Vries.
Callum Ilott also lost places from his qualifying position and finished eighth in his Sauber Junior Team by Charouz entry, but will claim the reverse grid pole position for Sunday's sprint race.
Carlin's Nobuharu Matsushita finished ninth ahead of Jordan King who rounded out the top 10 for MP Motorsport.
Dorian Boccolacci could only one complete one racing lap on his F2 return with Trident after missing the Austrian leg of the championship, the Frenchman pulling off the track on lap 2 at Silverstone.
BWT Arden's Anthoine Hubert was unable to get away from his grid slot and was pulled back into the pit lane with his front left brake overheating and catching fire. The team was able to get him restarted and back into the race – albeit a lap down.
On the final lap, Arjun Maini in the second Campos Racing car hit the back of Nakita Mazepin in the Vale chicane which put the Russian out of the race at the final corner.
Sunday's Sprint Race is scheduled for 10:00 local time.
Discussion about this post