F2 Monaco: Barnard takes maiden win in interrupted sprint race

Barnard became the seventh different F2 race winner this season, taking the chequered flag by over five seconds from Gabriel Bortoleto despite the final segment of the race being a five-lap dash after the stoppage.

Prior to the Monaco weekend, Barnard was the only F2 driver without a point to his name, but after starting from reversed grid pole the British AIX driver looked composed throughout as he neutered Invicta driver Bortoleto's threat from behind all race long.

As can often be the case in Monaco, the F2 sprint race did a good job of decorating the Monaco scenery with carbon fibre with the safety car, virtual safety car and red flags all called into action across the duration.

The first interruption came after just one corner, with luckless Victor Martins sustaining significant front-left suspension damage as contact with Jak Crawford assisted him into the Sainte Devote barriers.

Upon the restart, third-placed Dennis Hauger had a lucky escape when he struck the barriers through Antony Noghes.

Next up, on lap six, it was Pepe Marti’s turn to summon safety car driver Bernd Maylander onto the track as he lost the rear of his car on the exit of the Swimming Pool complex and scraped down the barriers.

Although not causing a further intervention, Oliver Bearman found himself in strife on lap 14 when he made the same error as Hauger at Anthony Noghes, but hit the barriers with far greater force as he sent his Prema bouncing across the track.

Despite the resulting steering damage, Bearman continued but he lost any hope of points with a brief loss of power through the tunnel, which dropped him to 14th.

A duel between championship leader Zane Maloney and Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan caused the red flags to fly on lap 22. Having already touched at the Grand Hotel hairpin, the pair made secondary contact at Rascasse before Maloney was spun by the following Juan Manuel Correa.

The incident, which will be investigated after the race, saw Maloney accuse ART driver O’Sullivan of brake checking drivers.

A rolling restart began the closing exchanges with fourth-placed Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema) fitting the super soft rubber to challenge for a maiden podium.

This failed to yield the desired improvement however, with Barnard, Bortoleto and Hauger maintaining their starting positions to finish among the podium positions.

Maloney remains at the top of the standings despite failing to score, with seventh-placed Paul Aron scoring two points to reduce his advantage to three.

F2 Monaco Sprint Race Results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25		30	-
2	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10		30	+5.200 5.2	5.200
3	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11		30	+5.800 5.8	0.600
4	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4		30	+8.200 8.2	2.400
5	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12		30	+10.800 10.8	2.600
6	R. Staněk Trident	23		30	+13.500 13.5	2.700
7	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17		30	+15.000 15.0	1.500
8	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20		30	+16.400 16.4	1.400
9	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14		30	+16.800 16.8	0.400
10	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2		30	+17.700 17.7	0.900
11	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3		30	+18.300 18.3	0.600
12	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8		30	+18.800 18.8	0.500
13	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7		30	+19.200 19.2	0.400
14	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		30	+22.000 22.0	2.800
15	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15		30	+24.000 24.0	2.000
16	R. Verschoor Trident	22		30	+24.300 24.3	0.300
17	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6		30	+25.200 25.2	0.900
18	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24		30	+25.900 25.9	0.700
dnf	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5		22	8 laps					Retirement
dnf	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9		22	8 laps					Accident
dnf	P. Martí Campos Racing	21		4	26 laps					Accident
dnf	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1		29						Retirement
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