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19-year-old Briton Taylor Barnard (AIX Racing), who is making his F2 debut and had not yet managed to score a point in 2024, made the most of the reversed grid for the Sprint Race on Saturday, which was marked by several race incidents and interrupted by a red flag.
Thanks to his 10th place in qualifying, Norwich-born Barnard, winner of just one F3 race last year (10th in the F3 championship), was on pole position for the 30-lap Sprint. He got off to a very good start and never relinquished the lead, with Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta) and Norwegian Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) behind him all the way to the chequered flag.
The best lap was set by Italian prodigy Andrea ‘Kimi’ Antonelli (Prema Racing), who failed to finish on the podium but scored a few points, while Frenchman Victor Martins (ART GP) and Dutchman Richard Verschoor (Trident) were eliminated prematurely.
Martins didn’t even see the Beau Rivage climb, being sandwiched at the start by two of his rivals and thrown against the rail at Sainte-Dévote, where he opened up his front end. Spaniard Josep Maria Marti crashed out of the S de la Piscine on lap 6, causing the Safety Car to come out. And Verschoor, after a touch on lap 12, had to return to his pits, from where he left 22nd and last.
In the final incident, which was not serious for the drivers, championship leader Zane Maloney was caught out by the braking of Indonesian driver Kush Maini at the Rascasse bend, hit him from behind and spun, causing a small traffic jam and the red flags coming out. The race restarted at 3.13pm, for just 6 laps, and the Top 8 remained unchanged, despite Antonelli’s best efforts, with Frenchman Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing) in 8th place at the end.
Everything will return to normal on Sunday at 9.40am for the long race (42 laps), with the starting grid in the order determined by Friday’s qualifying. And two Frenchmen at the top of the grid, Martins (2nd) and Hadjar (3rd), determined to beat poleman Verschoor.
