Race report
FIA F2 Yas Marina
F2 Abu Dhabi: Marti wins sprint race as Bortoleto extends championship advantage
Marti wins as Bortoleto closes on F2 title in Abu Dhabi
Sam Hall
Edited: Dec 7, 2024, 10:01 PM
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Josep Maria Marti, Campos Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
Pepe Marti became the 18th different winner in the 2024 Formula 2 season in a race that was decided by a phenomenal start that promoted him from fourth to first by Turn 1 of the 23-lap race.
The Campos driver was followed home by championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who had started behind rivals Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron on the grid but made an equally impressive start to usurp his contenders in the opening stages.
Aron finished third meaning he dropped out of title contention, making it a two-horse race for the championship. But things got worse post-race when he was disqualified for running a DRS actuator, "modified to extend the length of the piston by 1 millimetre, allowing a wider opening of the DRS wing".
As a result, the Estonian will now also start the season-ending feature race from the pitlane.
With 26 points left available on Sunday, Bortoleto now holds a four-and-a-half point lead over Hadjar – who finished sixth but gained a place with Aron's troubles.
In a chaotic opening lap that saw Marti launch to the front, Maini flew through the pack from ninth to second as Bortoleto followed his Invicta team-mate up to fifth. This fast start for Maini included contact with Hadjar into Turn 1, as he entered the corner with his left front fully locked and slid into the front wing endplate of the Campos.
Feature race pole sitter Victor Martins saw his day end in those opening exchanges after being struck by Ritomo Miyata’s Rodin at Turn 6 – the Japanese driver receiving a 10s penalty for his actions.
After the eventful lap one, the race began to settle into a rhythm, although Bortoleto was aiding his title bid with further gains on Joshua Durksen and Cordeel putting him in third and directly behind Maini.
Gabriel Bortoleto, Invicta Racing
Photo by: James Sutton / Motorsport Images
On lap six, Bortoleto completed a textbook DRS move on his team-mate for second while Aron and Hadjar were lapping in sixth and ninth.
With Maini dropping to the chasing pack he was powerless to prevent Hitech drivers Cordeel and Aron from powering by, with Durksen finding a way past around the outside of Turn 9 on lap eight. Oliver Bearman, Dino Beganovic and Hadjar followed past one lap later, shuffling Maini out of the points.
Bearman had been the biggest gainer on lap one, climbing seven places, but as the medium Pirelli rubber struggled to manage the 24-lap distance, the Prema driver was among an ever-growing number of drivers seeing times deleted for track limits breaches. With a handful of laps remaining, he was hit with a 5s penalty for the consistent violations.
Team orders are not commonplace in F2 and this was evident as Cordeel put up a stout defence on team-mate Aron. But this was resolved on lap 17 when a lockup opened the door and allowed championship challenger Aron through.
A further lockup for Cordeel while defending into Turn 6 resulted in contact with Durksen. While Hadjar gained a place on Durksen’s stricken AIX, he gained another point when Cordeel was hit with a 10s penalty – promoting Hadjar to sixth.
Aware that his advantage was shrinking, Bortoleto attempted to close the margin to leader Marti. But he was unable to make significant gains and crossed the line 2.2s behind in second.
F2 Abu Dhabi sprint race result
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info
1
-
4
Main Information Additional Data
1
-
2
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Bonus 1
P. Martí Campos Racing
21 23
38'36.039
188.620 10 1 2
G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing
10 23
+2.286
38'38.325
2.286 188.434 8 3
P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight
17 23
+13.971
38'50.010
11.685 187.489 6 4
D. Beganovic DAMS Lucas Oil
8 23
+18.828
38'54.867
4.857 187.099 5 5 O. Bearman Prema Powerteam 3 23
+19.547
38'55.586
0.719 187.042 4 6 I. Hadjar Campos Racing 20 23
+22.980
38'59.019
3.433 186.767 3 7
L. Browning ART Grand Prix
2 23
+26.798
39'02.837
3.818 186.463 2 8 R. Verschoor MP Motorsport 11 23
+27.896
39'03.935
1.098 186.375 1 9 J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil 7 23
+29.768
39'05.807
1.872 186.227 10
O. Goethe MP Motorsport
12 23
+31.618
39'07.657
1.850 186.080 11
L. Fornaroli Rodin Motorsport
5 23
+33.307
39'09.346
1.689 185.946 12 R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport 6 23
+33.784
39'09.823
0.477 185.908 13 R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 15 23
+34.727
39'10.766
0.943 185.834 14 A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight 16 23
+36.268
39'12.307
1.541 185.712 15
M. Esterson Trident
22 23
+40.756
39'16.795
4.488 185.358 16
J. Bennett Van Amersfoort Racing
14 23
+43.493
39'19.532
2.737 185.143 17
C. Mansell Trident
23 23
+45.303
39'21.342
1.810 185.001 18 K. Maini Invicta Racing 9 23
+52.570
39'28.609
7.267 184.434 19
C. Shields PHM AIX Racing
25 23
+1'00.505
39'36.544
7.935 183.818 20 V. Martins ART Grand Prix 1 22
+1 Lap
39'37.069
1 Lap 175.780 1 dnf
J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing
24 18
+5 Laps
30'43.067
4 Laps 185.448 1 Accident View full results
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