Your basket is currently empty!
Tag: Invicta Racing
-
Kush Maini takes a creditable second at Budapest: F2
Budapest, 20 July 2024: Top Indian star Kush Maini of Bengaluru notched up a creditable podium, taking the second place behind Trident’s Richard Verschoor, who claimed a victory at the Budapest Sprint Race the in Formula 2 world Championship here on Saturday.
The Dutchman was able to pull away from Kush Maini at the end on his way to the top step, with the Invicta Racing driver crossing the line in second ahead of ART Grands Prix’s Victor Martins in third.
AS IT HAPPENED
Temperatures were much cooler for the Sprint compared to Friday’s Qualifying and there was a mix of tyres on the grid, with 12 cars fitted with the Softs, while the rest chose the Hards.
Two of those drivers on the Hards were pole-sitter Verschoor and his fellow front row starter Maini, and while they made good starts, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had fired up his Soft tyres from P4 and went round the outside of the Invicta car at Turn 2, to take second.
His fellow drivers on the red-walled compounds were also flying as Gabriel Bortoleto and Enzo Fittipaldi moved up to P6 and P7 respectively by overtaking Hard tyre runner Isack Hadjar.
The PREMA Racing rookie would not have to wait long to take the lead as he overcame Verschoor’s staunch defence to dive down his inside at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 4.
By the end of Lap 5, Antonelli was over two seconds clear out front, while Maini was beginning to close in on Verschoor for P2, with Martins just behind on his Softs.
On to Lap 7, and Fittipaldi was showing strong pace in his Van Amersfoort Racing car and overtook his fellow Option tyre runner Bortoleto for P6, going round his compatriot’s outside at Turn 1.
But as the drivers set of on Lap 11, what had been a lead of over two seconds for Antonelli had now been closed to 1.6s, as the Hard tyre runners began to come into their own.
Further back, Maini had also created a gap of over two seconds to Martins, who was now defending from Dennis Hauger in the battle for P4.
On Lap 13 of 28, Hadjar used DRS to get ahead of Bortoleto for P7, while Hauger had dropped back from Martins and had fallen to P6 behind Fittipaldi.
Verschoor was now right on the back of Antonelli as they started Lap 16, but the PREMA driver was resisting each attack. However, he could not hold on much longer, running wide at the final corner before locking up into Turn 1, allowing both Verschoor and Maini through.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, his lock up had proven costly as he was falling through the field with Martins, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Hadjar all making their way past before PREMA made the call to pit him for a set of Hards.
Bortoleto was also struggling on his Softs with Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman overtaking him and dropping him to P9 before Invicta also decided to pit him for the Hard tyres.
Back in the midfield, Paul Aron was looking to make up the positions he lost at the start as one of the Prime tyre runners and went round the outside of Jak Crawford at Turn 2 for P12, despite the American’s attempts to take back the position at T4.
But as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver was battling to get back into the points, his Championship rival Hadjar was up to fourth after overtaking Fittipaldi and Hauger on Lap 21.
Fittipaldi was also struggling on his Softs and after losing out to Hauger and Colapinto, he suffered a puncture on the left front tyre forcing him to pit.
Bearman then lost places to Aron and Taylor Barnard to drop out of the points. He then went three-wide with the DAMS Lucas Oil cars of Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa at Turn 3, with the former emerging ahead in P9.
By the final lap, Verschoor had built a two-second gap out front and crossed the line to take his fourth Formula 2 victory ahead of Maini, with Martins taking the final spot on the podium.
Hadjar ended up in P4 ahead of Hauger and Colapinto, with Aron making his way through to P7 as Barnard rounded out the points in P8.
KEY QUOTE – Richard Verschoor, Trident
“Super happy with today, we made the right choice going on the Prime tyres. I’m very happy with the win but I have the feeling it should have been my third and not my first, so let’s enjoy the moment, the team did a good job and let’s move on to tomorrow.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
After finishing fourth, Championship leader Isack Hadjar moves to 138 points and extends his lead to second place Paul Aron to 119. Third and fourth-placed Zane Maloney and Gabriel Bortoleto failed to score in the Sprint Race but maintain their positions in the Standings although Franco Colapinto has moved to 95 points with his deficit to the Invicta Racing driver now just three.
In the Teams’ Standings, Campos Racing maintain their lead and move to 176 points, however, MP Motorsport scored two more points than them in the Sprint Race and the gap with between the two stands at 11. Invicta Racing are just one point behind in third on 164, while Hitech Pulse-Eight sits fourth on 144 ahead of Rodin Motorsport on 120.
UP NEXT
Next on the schedule is the Budapest Feature Race which is set to take place on Sunday morning at 10:05 local time.
-
Kush Maini posts a creditable P2 to score 20 points: F2 Feature race
Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), 9 March 2024: Kush Maini bounced back from his Sakhir disappointment with a creditable P2 for Invicta Racing, while Dennis Hauger rounded out the podium by less than a tenth of a second for MP Motorsport after Enzo Fittipaldi took his first Feature Race victory for Van Amersfoort Racing in a thrilling Jeddah spectacle in the FIA Formula 2 World Championship here on Saturday.
With the 20 points earned in the Feature race, Maini is now in fifth place with 27 points in the rankings.
The Brazilian pulled off an audacious three-wide pass for the win, while the fight for the final podium places ended in a drag race across the line.
AS IT HAPPENED
Maini got the perfect launch to keep the lead into Turn 1 while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was up to fourth for PREMA Racing. Out of the opening chicane, Josep María Martí was a first-lap retirement after a spin left the Spaniard with damage while Trident’s Roman Stanek couldn’t avoid the Campos Racing car.
The stranded cars required a Safety Car before the drivers made it round for Lap 2.
Back to green flag conditions, Maini retained the lead comfortably as he opened up the gap on his supersofts to Jak Crawford behind.
Entering Lap 6, Hauger moved clear of Victor Martins for fifth but lost out to both the ART Grand Prix driver and Campos’ Isack Hadjar on the main straight without a tow.
Having fallen out of DRS, Crawford became the first to pit for mediums at the end of the lap and he was followed in by Hauger, Richard Verschoor and Paul Aron.
Hadjar was on the move again, getting the better of his compatriot Martins into Turn 1 to take fourth on the road.
A fast-starting Juan Manuel Correa moved himself up to fifth with an ambitious dive on Martins at Turn 27 to round out a torrid lap for the Alpine Academy driver. He pitted on Lap 8, following Maini, Fittipaldi, Antonelli and Hadjar in for their mandatory stops.
Crawford lost out with his earlier stop as the DAMS Lucas Oil driver fell behind Antonelli. The American battled through with his tyres up to temperature though, clearing the Italian as they approached Turn 22 on the PREMA driver’s outlap.
A snap out of the final corner though re-opened the door for the Mercedes Junior Team member, and he reclaimed sixth into Turn 1. However, he ran deep under braking and Crawford took the place back, while Fittipaldi ahead had escaped DRS range.
Lap 10 and Hadjar dived down the inside at Turn 27 again to demote Antonelli, but a nice switchback for the PREMA driver allowed him to retake the place into Turn 1.
One lap on and the Campos returned the favour, using DRS to pass Antonelli again, taking seventh on the road at the first corner. Just behind them, Zane Maloney moved himself into the points with a straightforward pass on Martins under braking.
While Maini had retained the net race lead, Fittipaldi had tracked the Invicta driver down and on Lap 13, dived to the inside of the Indian driver to take fourth position.
Martins’ struggles continued as Franco Colapinto demoted the Frenchman to 12th on Lap 14, using DRS into the first corner. The MP Motorsport driver’s joy was short-lived though as on the following tour, he spun into retirement at Turn 1 after tagging the barriers out of Turn 27 the previous lap. His spin brought out the Safety Car once again.
Correa, Amaury Cordeel and Taylor Barnard had yet to pit on the mediums, but only the latter two used the chance to pit for supersofts.
The Safety Car was withdrawn entering Lap 19, and Fittipaldi was on the attack immediately. He passed Barnard to take third position while Maini made a move on Crawford to take fifth position out of Turn 2. An issue for Hadjar dropped him out of the points and later forced the Frenchman to retire.
Cordeel got himself to within DRS range of Correa entering Lap 21 and the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver took the lead of the race into Turn 1. Maini was again down the inside of a rival at the first corner, this time taking fourth from Barnard.
Correa stuck with the new leader though, as Fittipaldi homed in on the pair of them. He swept around the outside of them both to take the lead at Turn 1 going three-wide in the process in a daring pass.
Cordeel was on the defensive with Correa passing him into the first corner but as the pair squabbled on corner exit, Maini was able to clear the Belgian to improve to third on the road.
A Virtual Safety Car was deployed after a spin for Zak O’Sullivan at Turn 2. His ART car was cleared, and racing got back underway again as the leader started Lap 25.
Correa finally made his stop on Lap 26 to leave Maini, Cordeel, Crawford, Antonelli and Hauger to scrap for the podium places.
The MP driver forced Antonelli to defend at the last corner and going into Lap 27, the Norwegian claimed P5 with DRS into Turn 1.
Onto the final lap and Maini led a DRS train down to fifth but up front, Fittipaldi went untroubled after his incredible move to take his first F2 Feature Race win and second in the Championship.
Maini kept P2 for Invicta but a three-wide drag race for the final podium position went the way of Hauger, who finished just 0.031s ahead of Crawford in fourth and Cordeel, who dropped to fifth by 0.127s.
Antonelli came across the line in sixth ahead of Maloney in P7, Verschoor in P8. Rafael Villagómez capped off a great day for Van Amersfoort in ninth and Martins took his first point of the year with P10 in the end.
KEY QUOTE – Enzo Fittipaldi, Van Amersfoort Racing
“It was a really good race. Everyone from Van Amersfoort gave me an amazing car. We were absolutely flying out there. Even after the Virtual and normal Safety Car, we still won by almost eight seconds, so we were flying. I’m just so happy to get the win in just the second round and to be in the fight for the Championship.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Maloney leads the way in the Drivers’ Championship, moving onto 47 points at the top. Fittipaldi’s Feature Race win and fastest lap moves him up to second on 32 points, with Hauger third one point further back. Aron is fourth on 28 points with Maini rounding out the top five just behind him on 27.
In the Teams’ Standings, Rodin Motorsport remain in front on 49, seven points clear of Invicta Racing in P2. MP Motorsport move onto 39 points in third, one point ahead of Hitech Pulse- Eight. Van Amersfoort Racing lift themselves up to P5 on 34 after their double score on Saturday.
UP NEXT – MELBOURNE
Formula 2 heads down under for Round 3 and a visit to Melbourne for the second time in the Championship’s history. Who will become the next winner in a thrilling 2024 season? Tune in from 22-24 March.
