F2 Abu Dhabi: Marti wins as Bortoleto extends championship advantage

Pepe Marti grew to become the 18th totally different winner within the 2024 Components 2 season in an Abu Dhabi dash race that was determined by an outstanding begin which propelled him from fourth to first by Flip 1 of the 23-lap occasion.

The Campos driver was adopted house by championship chief Gabriel Bortoleto, who began behind title rivals Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron however made an equally spectacular begin to overtake his contenders within the opening levels.

With 26 factors left obtainable on Sunday, Bortoleto now holds a five-and-a-half level lead over Hadjar – who completed sixth.

Paul Aron’s third-place end means he’s now 27.5 factors off the chief, making it a two-horse race for the championship.

In a chaotic opening lap that noticed Marti launch to the entrance, Kush Maini flew from ninth to second as Bortoleto adopted his Invicta team-mate as much as fifth. This quick begin for Maini included contact with Hadjar into Flip 1, as he entered the nook together with his left-front absolutely locked and slid into the entrance wing endplate of the Campos.

Characteristic race pole sitter Victor Martins retired in these opening exchanges after being struck by Ritomo Miyata’s Rodin at Flip 6 – the Japanese driver receiving a 10s penalty for his actions.

After the eventful lap one, the race settled right into a rhythm, although Bortoleto was aiding his title bid with additional features on Joshua Durksen and Amaury Cordeel placing him in third and immediately behind Maini.

On lap six, Bortoleto accomplished a textbook DRS transfer on Maini for second whereas Aron and Hadjar ran sixth and ninth.

With Maini dropping to the chasing pack he was powerless to stop Hitech drivers Cordeel and Aron from powering by, whereas Durksen overtook across the exterior of Flip 9 on lap eight. 

Oliver Bearman, Dino Beganovic and Hadjar adopted previous one lap later, shuffling Maini out of the factors.

Bearman was the largest gainer on lap one, climbing seven locations, however because the medium Pirelli rubber struggled to handle the 24-lap distance, the Prema driver was amongst an ever-growing variety of drivers seeing instances deleted for observe limits breaches. With a handful of laps remaining, he acquired a 5s penalty for the constant violations.

Group orders aren’t commonplace in F2 and this was evident as Cordeel put up a stout defence on team-mate Aron. However this was resolved on lap 17 when a lock-up opened the door and allowed championship challenger Aron by means of.

An extra lock-up for Cordeel whereas defending into Flip 6 resulted involved with Durksen. Whereas Hadjar gained a spot on Durksen’s stricken AIX, he gained one other level when Cordeel was hit with a 10s penalty – selling Hadjar to sixth.

Conscious that his benefit was shrinking, Bortoleto tried to shut the margin to chief Marti. However he was unable to make vital features and crossed the road 2.2s behind in second.