Pepe Martí wins F2 Austria sprint after dramatic red flag
The Spaniard surged to the front from fifth on the grid in the interrupted race at the Red Bull Ring.
SPIELBERG–Josep María "Pepe" Martí took his second victory of the year in FIA Formula 2 in a race interrupted by the red flag after a dramatic rollover in the opening laps at the Red Bull Ring.
Martí started fifth but was up to second by turn four on the opening lap, charging through the field behind second-place starter Joshua Duerksen.
A bold three-wide move into turn four at the top of the hill was underway on the following lap, with Sami Meguetounif on the inside of Arvid Lindlad at the apex.
The Trident went sideways into the Red Bull junior, launching over his car before rolling across Luke Browning and landing upside down.
The race was immediately red flagged and all three were able to walk away from the collision.
Duerksen led the field confidently at the restart followed by Martí and Roman Stanek, but a late charge from the Spaniard saw him seize the lead at turn three and pull away to the chequered flag.
The Campos Racing driver took the lead by just under three seconds ahead of Duerksen, who held on for second, and Stanek, who was unsuccessful in moving further up the field despite several spirited attempts on the leaders.
"One step better than last year so very, very happy about it," said Martí.
"We had really, really good pace and even with the three-place grid drop we managed to get the win.
"Hoping for a good result tomorrow to keep building this momentum and get good points and head into Silverstone in a good manner."
It was an important victory for the Spaniard after falling out of championship contention despite winning the Bahrain sprint race earlier in the year.
"Racing here as a Red Bull driver, you know, at the Red Bull Ring, home of Red Bull and just the brand in general, it's generally a great feeling, just driving here in a Red Bull Car,"
"Then being able to secure the win, doing a great, I think, strategic race, because obviously we had some, some slight tyre degradation, and you had to be quite intelligent how you're driving.
"I think we each had a different approach, and mine came out to be the best, so I'm quite happy about it."
Completing the podium, Roman Stanek was the victor of a tense three-way fight into turn four once again, this time on the final lap.
Amaury Cordeel spun from the rear of the pack, with Gabriele Minì, Leonardo Fornaroli, and John Bennett all crashing into his stranded Rodin Motorsport car and eliminating even more drivers from the race.
The crash meant a huge jump in the standings for those in the midfield, with Verschoor taking fourth ahead of Montoya, Dunne, Martins, and Miyata in the points positions.
Alex Dunne, fresh off a Formula One outing in Free Practice with McLaren, holds the lead of the standings by just one point over Verschoor, with Arvid Lindblad remaining third despite his DNF after the red flag collision.
The FIA Formula 2 field returns for the feature race at 6pm on Sunday (AEST).
