Among the newcomers, Mini was the best.
The Formula 3 season ended at Monza two weeks ago, and as is customary, a number of these talented and financially secure drivers are moving to Formula 2 for the rest of the season to gain experience for the next stages of their careers. Formula 2 thus arrived in Baku with a partially changed driver composition. First of all, the Czech pilot Roman Staněk left the Trident team, as he announced earlier. His place was taken by Mansell, who raced for the ART team in Formula 3 this year and finished fifth overall.
Moreover, in Baku, the Trident proved to be very fast once again on this track. Richard Verschoor claimed his second pole position for the main race this year in Friday’s qualifying. Mansell managed to qualify in tenth place, giving him pole position for today’s sprint.
Furthermore, there was a change in the rider composition in the ART stable, O’Sullivan ran out of funds to continue in Formula 2, so he was replaced by Luke Browning, Williams’ junior, who finished third in Formula 3.
Change also occurred in the Prema stable, but for a more pleasant reason. Oliver Bearman got his second chance in Formula 1 this year, as he replaces the penalized Magnussen at Haas, and for the race in Baku he was replaced by the great talent Gabriel Mini, who together with Prema became the F3 vice-champion this year.
In the narrow streets of Baku, the already mentioned debutant Mansell from Trident took the pole position today, while Crawford occupied the neighboring starting position. Mini and Dürksen started from the second row, Bortoleto and Maini from the third row, the fourth row belonged to Maloney and Martins, the fifth to Antonelli and Verschoor.
The qualification, on the other hand, did not go well at all for Hadjar, the leading pilot in the standings. On Friday, he crashed into a barrier in the first corner and ended up fifteenth overall. In addition, his fastest time was canceled due to the red flag, which dropped him to the twentieth starting position.
After the red lights went out, Mansell held on to the lead, Mini took second place, and the two rookies suddenly found themselves leading the race. Dürksen moved up to third place, while Crawford fell to fourth place. Maini, Maloney, Martins and Bortoleto ranked next.
Even though the field was driving close to each other, less than a second apart, even DRS was not enough for the pilots to fight each other.
It wasn’t until the seventh lap that Mini showed what he was really made of, overtaking Mansell and taking the lead. A lap later, the Trident pilot was also beaten by Dürksen.
In addition, the AIX Racing pilot started to set the fastest laps of the race and was attacking the first position. In a several-lap battle for the lead, he succeeded in the thirteenth lap, when he overtook Minih and got to the front of the race. From that moment on, he started to outrun everyone.
Subsequently, Crawford together with Martins overtook Mansell and moved into third and fourth place.
Otherwise, the race was very peaceful compared to other years. There was no chaos and frequent departures of the safety car today.
It wasn’t until the fifteenth lap that he crashed while trying to overtake Hauger Miyata, and the first and only safety car of today’s race appeared on the track.
At the restart, Dürksen kept the lead. But the second Mini braked and Crawford overtook him without difficulty. At the same time there was contact between Mansell and Bortolet, but both drivers were able to continue the race. Mansell was attacked by Antonelli and moved into seventh position. Even so, today’s debutant and at the same time pole man left his first race with at least one point for eighth place.
Mini fought against Martins in the end, but in the end he defended third place in his debut race in Formula 2.
Thus, after two stages this year, Dürksen finally celebrated a victory. At the same time, this is the second victory of the AIX Racing stable, it won for the first time this year in Monaco with Barnard. Second place went to Crawford today.
The results
P
Jezdec
Tým
Kol
1
Joshua Duerksen
PHM AIX Racing
21
2
Jak Crawford
DAMS Lucas Oil
21
3
Gabriele Minì
Prema Racing
21
4
Victor Martins
ART Grand Prix
21
5
G.Bortoleto
Invicta Racing
21
6
Paul Aron
Hitech Pulse-Eight
21
7
A.K.Antonelli
Prema Racing
21
8
Christian Mansell
Trident
21
9
Kush Maini
Invicta Racing
21
10
Zane Maloney
Rodin Motorsport
21
11
Luke Browning
ART Grand Prix
21
12
Isack Hadjar
Campos Racing
21
13
Enzo Fittipaldi
Van Amersfoort Racing
21
14
Dennis Hauger
MP Motorsport
21
15
J.M.Correa
DAMS Lucas Oil
21
16
Rafael Villagómez
Van Amersfoort Racing
21
17
Richard Verschoor
Trident
21
18
Amaury Cordeel
Hitech Pulse-Eight
21
19
Pepe Martí
Campos Racing
21
20
Niels Koolen
PHM AIX Racing
21
21
Oliver Goethe
MP Motorsport
21
–
Ritomo Mijata
Rodin Motorsport
14
