Daruvala takes first F2 win of 2022 in disrupted Monza feature race

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Jehan Daruvala claimed his first Formula 2 win of 2022 in the Monza feature race.

After a dramatic start, Daruvala won by almost two seconds ahead of Frederick Vesti.

The fight for second in the championship continues as contenders Theo Pourchaire, Logan Sargeant and Jack Doohan all retired while Liam Lawson finished outside the points.

Doohan started from pole but a clutch issue meant he got a poor launch. He dropped down the order, and battled with Sargeant and Daruvala on lap one. Doohan and Sargeant then came together and took to the escape road, with Sargeant’s car heavily damaged and putting him out immediately while Doohan limped to the pits.

Further back, another crash took out Pourchaire, Ralph Boschung, Luca Ghiotto and Olli Caldwell. Boschung had gone wide at turn one and returned to track alongside Pourchaire, making contact and spinning Pourchaire around. He was then hit again by Ghiotto.

The safety car was brought out, with Lawson leading Felipe Drugovich and Marcus Armstrong at the front. Racing had barely resumed when Calan Williams and David Beckman came together, sending Williams into the barriers at the Ascari chicane.

As the safety car came out again, Armstrong, Daruvala, Ayumu Iwasa and Vesti dived into the pits. It was a late call for Armstrong, who had already passed the bollard marking pit entry when he came in.

Lawson and Drugovich, who had started the on the harder tyre compound, came in the following lap.

The race was then red flagged to clear Williams’ car, leaving a 20-lap race with most of the field having completed their pitstops.

Richard Verschoor and Marino Sato led the way on the restart, having not pitted, but it was Daruvala in the net lead having jumped Iwasa in the pits. As Iwasa led a train of drivers, Daruvala battled to find a way past Sato. He finally found a way past in the race’s second half and began closing the gap to Verschoor before the long-time leader pitted with four laps remaining.

Vesti, who had passed Iwasa on the restart, followed Verschoor but couldn’t get close enough to challenge for position. He had to settle for a second consecutive second place.

Iwasa came under pressure from Enzo Fittipaldi and Dennis Hauger in the race’s second half. Fittipaldi pushed hard but Iwasa managed to hold on to finish third. Fittipaldi picked up fourth, with Hauger close behind.

David Beckmann, who suffered a puncture on the formation lap, managed to climb up through the order to finish sixth ahead of Drugovich, who was running a long stint on Pirelli’s soft compound tyres.

Lawson had been running behind Fittipaldi when the race restarted, but found himself locked in a battle with Juri Vips, who attempted a late dive down the inside of his flatmate and made contact. Lawson spun and damaged his front wing, requiring a pitstop. Vips continued his charge up through the order, passing Clement Novalak before being handed a 10-second stop-go penalty which dropped him to the back.

Armstrong was hit with a 10s penalty for his pitlane entry, and then a further 10s stop-go for pitlane speeding, dropping him to the back too. Amaury Cordeel therefore finished a surprise eighth ahead of Novalak and Verschoor.

Race result (30 laps)