(Motorsports news) Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong beat Prema's Jehan Daruvala to the F2 sprint race victory at Imola. Marcus started from second on the grid as he made a solid start and got ahead of Williams F1 junior Logan Sargeant, who started the on pole because of the reverse grid.The Hitech once he took the lead he then controlled the race from the front, resisting pressure from Daruvala, who was showing impressive race pace in the Prema. The Indian driver couldn't get close to make the most of the DRS, as Armstrong took the victory.
Reigning F3 champion Dennis Hauger came third and completed the podium behind Armstrong and Daruvala after gaining a position at the start of the race. Dirty air proved to be more prevalent as these F2 cars struggled to follow each other in the middle sector of the lap. Roy Nissany finished an impressive fourth after getting past Theo Pourchaire at the start, securing his best result of the year. F2 points leader Felipe Drugovich, Logan Sargeant, Theo Pourchaire and Liam Lawson rounded out the points at Imola in the sprint race. Ayumu Iwasa narrowly missed out the points in the end in P9 ahead of Frederik Vesti.
In the feature race, Daruvala finished ninth to take three points home as he also took the fastest lap point. Theo Pourchaire won the feature race and also took the Championship lead as he finished ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi and Ralph Boschung. For Daruvala, 2022 is going to be a make-or-break season for F2 aspirations, and so far, the Indian is having his best start to the season, delivering the results time and time again. He’s the only F2 driver this year to have finished on the podium in every round so far this season, and is also the leading Red Bull junior in the standings. He’s currently third overall with 39 points, just two points behind second-placed Liam Lawson and 16 points behind Felipe Drugovich. He needs to start converting these podiums into race victories if he wants to win this year's F2 World Championship
“After the fighting for the win yesterday, I was obviously hoping for more," Daruvala commented. "It’s a real shame the safety car came out when it did because we clearly had the pace to win.”
“The car felt great, I was able to get into a really good rhythm and I felt very comfortable in the lead. You can always dwell on the what-ifs, but my focus now is very much on carrying this momentum into the next round in Barcelona.”
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