Marcus Armstrong glides through radio silence to victory in F2 sprint race in Imola
Marcus Armstrong has overcome a radio failure to glide to an unchallenged victory in the FIA Formula 2 sprint race in Imola.
Marcus Armstrong celebrates his first victory of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season. (Formula Motorsport Limited)
The Kiwi sped away from Logan Sargeant at the start as the polesitter dropped down to fifth in the tight field.
Armstrong led from Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger by the second corner, with the top three unchanged after twenty-five laps at the chequered flag.
“I finally got that race win."
"It was a tough one, I didn’t have radio for the entire race."
"I'm tired! I had to watch the TV to see where he was," said Armstrong of his radio failure.
Marcus Armstrong, Jehan Daruvala, and Dennis Hauger on the podium at Imola. (Formula Motorsport Limited)
The sole safety car was called when David Beckmann spun on the opening lap, with a virtual safety car halfway through the race as Ralph Boschung retired on lap nine.
"The VSC was really difficult, I was having to watch the TV and see when the Safety Car was ending," said Armstrong.
“That was really stressful, but luckily, I got away with it."
"There was a TV when it went green, so perfect!"
"The rest of the race was smooth sailing, but I had a fast Jehan Daruvala following me."
"It wasn’t that easy.”
The Kiwi said his friendship with Daruvala helped him hold off his rival in the final stages to claim his second career Formula 2 victory.
"I feel as though I know more or less what he wants to do, we've talked about this quite a lot because we're quite good mates, and I knew that he'd try to back off to save his tyres a bit and try to attack at the end and apply some pressure."
"So I always kept a bit of margin with my own rear tyres just to make sure I could defend him if he came strong at the end."
Countryman Liam Lawson moved past Red Bull stablemate Ayumu Iwasa for ninth in one of the few overtaking moves of the race after the opening lap.
Further back, championship leader Felipe Drugovich had the measure of the field, making up five spots on lap one, and gaining two more by the flag to finish in fifth.
Drugovich maintains his lead of the standings on 49 points, ahead of Liam Lawson on 35 and Daruvala on 33 points.
Jack Doohan finished eleventh with fellow Aussie Calan Williams up to fourteenth after starting twentieth.
Armstrong's teammate Jüri Vips will lead the field from pole for the feature race on Sunday evening at 6.20pm AEST.
2022 FIA Formula 2 - Imola Sprint Race
- Marcus Armstrong (NZ)
- Jehan Daruvala
- Dennis Hauger
- Roy Nissany
- Felipe Drugovich
- Logan Sargeant
- Theo Pourchaire
- Liam Lawson (NZ)
- Ayumu Iwasa
- Frederik Vesti
- Jack Doohan (AUS)
- Enzo Fittipaldi
- Richard Verschoor
- Calan Williams (AUS)
- Juri Vips
- Marino Sato
- Olli Caldwell
- Jake Hughes
- Clement Novalak
- Ralph Boschung - DNF
- David Beckmann - DNF
- Amaury Cordeel - DNF
