Just like in Formula 3, the Formula 2 season started with an absolute debut in victories – at the beginning of his second year, Zane Maloney achieved his first victory in the category. And in an authoritative manner.
Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil) had the pole position ahead of Taylor Barnard (PHM AIX Racing) and made good use of the position to stay in the lead. Barnard, in turn, lost positions to ART Grand Prix drivers Victor Martins and Zak O’Sullivan. The British driver continued to fall in the standings in the opening lap.
An incident between Amaury Cordeel (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing) caused a virtual safety car. The green flag returned on the third lap, with Crawford holding on to the lead ahead of Martins. Maloney (Rodin Motorsports), who started in eighth, was gradually gaining positions, making good use of the soft tires.
The driver from Barbados was already in second place on the sixth lap and, two laps later, overtook Crawford at the exit of turn four to take the lead. Then, the ART Grand Prix driver had to face Martins, which allowed Maloney to start pulling away.
No one had an answer for the 2022 F3 runner-up, who managed the tires well and escaped to secure a clear victory: he crossed the finish line with a 5.490s lead and the fastest eligible lap to score points. The scenario was different in the battle for the other podium positions. Crawford managed to hold on to second until the end, but Martins lost momentum – he would ultimately finish only in 11th place.
Josep María Martí (Campos Racing) got the better of teammate Isack Hadjar with a good overtaking maneuver to secure third position. Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight) recovered to fifth, still having to fend off rookie Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) – the two crossed the finish line separated by just 0.132s. Enzo Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort Racing) had a race from front to back and finished in 17th, setting the fastest lap at the end. However, it is the fastest lap among the top ten that counts for points, and that was achieved by Maloney, who thus scored the maximum points in this race.
Results:
