Martins takes first podium of 2024 by winning F2’s Barcelona sprint race

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Victor Martins sealed a commanding victory in Formula 2’s Barcelona sprint race, as a track limits penalty denied Ritomo Miyata a maiden podium.

ART Grand Prix driver Martins finished 2.641 seconds ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Miyata, whose penalties dropped him to eighth and meant Virtuosi Racing’s Kush Maini and DAMS’ Juan Manuel Correa joined Martins on the podium.

A great launch from the inside of the front row gave Martins a clear lead into turn one while Miyata snatched second from Correa. Having started from reversed-grid pole, Maini slipped to fourth and avoided losing a further place to team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto after going wheel-to-wheel with him twice on lap one.

Maini reclaimed third from Correa at the beginning of lap two, with Bortoleto then sweeping around the outside of the latter at turn four. Having climbed to sixth at the start, Hitech GP’s points leader Paul Aron was next to challenge Correa but could not find a way by.

Martins faced pressure from Miyata at the start of lap four, but the Alpine junior then edged away and maintained a one-second advantage over the next few laps. That gap had doubled by the final third of the race as Martins went on to claim his first top-six finish in 11 races and first win in almost a year.

Miyata’s podium hopes were ended by two separate five-second penalties for track limits infringements, and Maini came home 4.4s behind Martins to inherit runner-up spot.

A four-way scrap raged behind him in the closing stages. Bortoleto’s tyres started to fade, and Correa, Aron and DAMS’ Jak Crawford bunched up behind. A lock-up from Bortoleto on the penultimate lap allowed Correa to pounce into turn 10 to snatch third place and his first F2 podium since he finished third at Paul Ricard five years ago almost to the day.

With his resistance finally broken, Bortoleto also lost out to Aron and Crawford before the finish.

Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar spent the early stages trying to pass Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli for eighth, and after finally making it by at the halfway stage the Red Bull junior gained a further place at the finish due to Miyata’s penalty.

Antonelli lost out to MP Motorsport‘s Dennis Hauger and finished 10th. His team-mate Ollie Bearman dropped down the order in the early stages and finished 21st, two places behind championship contender Zane Maloney who was another to receive a penalty for exceeding track limits.

Race results (26 laps)