New Zealand driver Marcus Armstrong controlled the race from start to finish to claim a “stressful’’ but smooth first victory of the Formula 2 season in Italy.
The 21-year-old from Christchurch made a strong start to the sprint race from second position on the grid and took over the lead in the leadup to the first braking zone at Imola on Saturday (Sunday NZ time).
He held his advantage until the chequered flag and was delighted with his success.
“I finally got that race win. It was a tough one, I didn’t have radio for the entire race,’’ Armstrong said.
“The VSC [Virtual Safety Car] was really difficult, I was having to watch the TV and see when the Safety Car was ending.
“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.”
Daruvala was second and Hauger third.
Carlin’s Logan Sargeant started from the reverse-grid pole position but struggled to get away from the line; Armstrong shot into the lead while Sargeant was swarmed by the rest of the front three rows and emerged running fifth.
While the mid-field saw early race chaos, the front runners settled into a clean rhythm.
A Safety Car intervention was called for a stranded car with Armstrong judging the restart perfectly and escaping from Daruvala, who was having to defend from his own team-mate Hauger.
Armstrong is back on the track on Sunday (Monday NZ time) for the 171 km feature race, aiming to bank more points.
Armstrong finished 13th in last year’s championship, with the highlight being a win in Saudi Arabia.
He has changed teams to Silverstone–based Hitech Grand Prix from the Ferrari Driver Academy.
New Zealander Liam Lawson (Carlin) – ninth in last season’s standings – recovered from 14th in qualifying to eighth place in the sprint race.
