Leonardo Fornaroli made it two consecutive Sprint Race victories in a row with a dominant drive from third on the grid to win at Spa Francorchamps.
A lightning start put him in front on the opening lap, and from there, the Invicta Racing driver controlled things perfectly to take the win. Victor Martins came through from sixth to finish second, with Gabriele Minì going from P8 to the final spot on the podium.
AS IT HAPPENED
It was a great start by Fornaroli from third, as he took the lead on the run down to Turn 1, with pole-sitter Goethe also losing out to fellow front row starter Amaury Cordeel, dropping him to third.
However, the Safety Car was soon signalled with Championship contenders Luke Browning, Jak Crawford and points leader Richard Verschoor colliding at the exit of Turn 1.
It left the Hitech TGR driver in the gravel, while Verschoor spun at Eau Rouge before retiring in the pit lane. Crawford also returned to the pits but was able to continue on.
Racing resumed on Lap 4 of 18, but a piece of Josep María Martí’s front wing flew off following his slight contact with Goethe on the opening lap. The Spaniard was now coming under pressure from his Campos Racing teammate Arvid Lindblad.
Behind them, Alexander Dunne overtook Ritomo Miyata for P8 down the Kemmel Straight.
Out in front and at the start of Lap 6, Cordeel was 0.4s behind Fornaroli. The Rodin Motorsport driver looked to make a move to Les Combes, but the race leader held him off.
There were several battles going on as Lindblad was being attacked by Minì for P6 down the Kemmel Straight, but the Briton kept him at bay.
Fornaroli managed to get out of DRS range on Lap 8, with Cordeel now coming under pressure from Goethe and Victor Martins.
But Goethe’s squirrelly moment going up Eau Rouge put Martins right on his back. The Frenchman reeled him in before using the DRS to take third on Lap 9 down the Kemmel Straight.
Onto Lap 10 and Goethe had fallen into the clutches of Martí, Lindblad, Minì, Dunne and Roman Stanek, all within DRS range of one another.
Martins’ charge continued on Lap 12 as after slowly closing in on Cordeel, he went round the outside of the Rodin #16 at Les Combes, but the two made contact, sending the Belgian into the gravel.
It brought out the Safety Car with much of the field deciding to switch to the Soft tyres. Fornaroli, Martins, Goethe, Minì and Cian Shields were the only ones who chose to stay out on their Mediums.
Green flag racing was resumed on Lap 14 of 18, with Minì getting ahead of Goethe for P3 down the Kemmel Straight.
After taking a couple of corners to warm up their Softs, Martí, Stanek and Dunne all got past Shields at Les Combes.
Dunne then dived to the inside of Stanek at Turn 1 on Lap 15, while Martí was being held up by Goethe. Out in front, Fornaroli was escaping, and was 1.4s clear of Martins.
Onto Lap 16, Martí, Dunne and Stanek started battling, allowing Goethe to pull away, with the Czech driver getting ahead of his Rodin rival for P6 at the end of the Kemmel Straight.
The soft tyre runners were struggling to make any more positions on the front runners heading on the penultimate lap. But any attempts they were planning to make were soon curtailed as a Safety Car was deployed, with Sami Meguetounif having stopped on track on the Kemmel Straight.
It meant the Feature Race ended as the Safety Car was withdrawn, giving Fornaroli a second consecutive Sprint Race victory following his Silverstone triumph, with Martins and Minì taking the other two spots on the podium.
Goethe had managed to hold of Martí for fourth, with Stanek sixth for Invicta, Dunne seventh for Rodin and Miyata taking the last point in eighth.
KEY QUOTE – Leonardo Fornaroli, Invicta Racing
“Another win, super happy about this one. We got a good start and took the lead into T1. It was very quiet for me at the front, but it was very difficult, firstly to defend from Cordeel and then to manage the restart with Victor. So very about the pace, we were very strong, so super happy to take another win and now looking forward to tomorrow.”
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Richard Verschoor continues to lead the Drivers’ Championship on 122 points, six clear of Jak Crawford in second. Leonardo Fornaroli is now up to third on 114 points, with Alexander Dunne fourth on 110, and Luke Browning fifth on 98.
In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing continue to lead the way with 158 points, ahead of Invicta Racing up to second on 146, and DAMS Lucas Oil in third with 142. Hitech TGR are fourth on 141 points, with MP Motorsport rounding out the top five on 139.
UP NEXT
The FIA Formula 2 action continues on 10:00 on Sunday morning with the Spa Francorchamps Feature Race. Who will come out on top in Belgium?