Gabriel Bortoleto achieved his first Formula 2 victory on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, winning the feature race in Austria which had some drama from the start.
Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) secured pole position, but his car stalled on the formation lap, forcing him to start from the pit lane. As a result, Joshua Dükersen (AIX Racing) was the only one on the front row of the grid and, with a good start, remained in the lead of the race, with Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) in second.
The Brazilian took the lead on the fourth lap, making a successful overtaking move. Dükersen was also overtaken by Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport). On the sixth lap, there was a virtual safety car period when Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport) stopped on track with issues.
Some drivers took the opportunity to switch from supersoft to soft tires, including Bortoleto and Dürkensen. Josep María Martí (Campos Racing) also did so and, with his pit stop, managed to become the virtual race leader. On the other hand, Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Trident) lost time when his car stalled in the pit lane.
On lap 18, Bortoleto was already close to Martí, completing the overtaking move at turn 3 and taking the lead after all the pit stops, never to relinquish it. But behind him, the battles continued for the remaining podium positions. Martí was then overtaken by Isack Hadjar (Campos) on the 24th lap.
In a different strategy from some of the front-runners, Colapinto only changed tires on the 32nd lap, but in the remaining eight laps he made a recovery with tires in better condition. On the last lap, he overtook Hadjar and secured second place, while Bortoleto was comfortably leading to win with a 4.296s advantage. The Argentine also set the fastest lap.
Hadjar was thus relegated to third, with Martí in fourth and Enzo Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort Racing) closing out the top five. Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) crossed the finish line in fourth, but a five-second penalty for changing direction several times while defending earlier in the race relegated him to sixth. Nevertheless, he continues to lead the championship.
Results:
