Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix: Isack Hadjar victorious in F2
Starting from 3rd position, Isack Hadjar won again in the main race, as he had done in Australia 2 months ago. After a well-managed race, despite some tense final laps, he established himself as one of the favorites for the F2 title.
His weekend had started perfectly with a solid third position in qualifying. The sprint race and its reversed grid didn’t go as well… Victim of a chaotic start in seventh position, he was forced to retire. So he was raring to go at the start of this main race.
Oliver Bearman pits, Isack Hadjar takes advantage.
The poleman, Gabriel Bortoleto, was stuck at the start. His two pursuers, Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar, did not hesitate to take the lead.
During the first laps of the race, the French driver puts pressure on the British leader. By the end of the seventh lap, Isack Hadjar stops at the pit lane. He tries to undercut the Ferrari Academy driver. One lap later, Oliver Bearman also stops… but stalls when trying to restart! The British driver loses all hope of success and falls far back in the pack.
Bortoleto’s return offers a suspenseful end to the race.
In the pit stop game, Isack Hadjar is only seventh but all the drivers in front of him have to stop at least once. He takes the lead on the 33rd lap of the race, once Rafael Villagómez, the last one to stop, finally decides to come into the pits. Isack Hadjar will therefore no longer have DRS to defend himself against Gabriel Bortoleto, who has closed the gap despite his poor start.
The last two laps are tense, the Frenchman is not allowed to make a mistake. At the end of the 35th lap of the race, Isack Hadjar still resists. He wins for the second consecutive time in the main race! In the arrival zone, he was relieved to have contained his Brazilian opponent: “I made a small mistake, he came back and once he was in the DRS zone it was much more complicated.” Before admitting: “I think he was the fastest today.”
The most important thing was to bring back the 25 points of the victory. By the same occasion, he is back in the championship race: he is now 3rd, 9 points behind the leader Zane Maloney.
Victor Martins scores points starting from last place
On the other French side, Victor Martins started last… Struggling since the beginning of the season, he is unable to confirm his title of best rookie from last season. In qualifying, his best lap was deleted and his session ended in his box after going off track.
The task was looking complex to score points… Aggressive from the start with 3 positions gained, he made a fantastic comeback! He finished 9th at the checkered flag and scored 3 points in the championship.
