Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Potentially the defining moment in F2’s Madring debut though was Nikola Tsolov’s incident late in the race when the championship leader spun out after clipping the wall at Turn 20 while challenging his Campos Racing team-mate Noel Leon.
Sixth place for Invicta Racing’s Rafael Camara enabled the Ferrari junior to reduce the gap in the overall standings to eight points.
Fittipaldi lined up on pole with Miyata alongside, the Japanese driver the sole Hitech on the grid after his team-mate Colton Herta was withdrawn from the race after feeling unwell following a crash in qualifying.
Miyata got the better start, storming down the inside of the Brazilian into Turn 1, while further back Trident’s John Bennett was spun round by Sebastian Montoya, both heading to the pits. Montoya was able to rejoin but three laps down on the field.
Camara was looking to gain places, passing his fellow Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic for seventh into Turn 5.
Behind them, Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne barged up the inside of Roman Bilinski in the second DAMS entry to take eighth.
ART Grand Prix’s Kush Maini looked to make up for his early crash in Friday’s qualifying session. However, an optimistic dive down the inside of Nico Varrone punted the innocent Argentine into the barriers, triggering a safety car.
When racing resumed Miyata led the field while behind Laurens Van Hoepen looked to move into the podium places having opted to start on soft tyres.
The Dutch driver looked to the inside of Leon into La Monumental on lap nine, briefly getting through before Leon forced his way back past. Two laps later the Trident driver made his move stick, leaving Leon to fend off his Bulgarian teammate.
Tsolov’s frustration was evident, voicing his annoyance at not being let past over the team radio. The intra-team battle allowed Rodin’s Martinius Stenshorne, Camara, Dunne and Boya to close onto Tsolov’s tail.
Tsolov got past at Turn 5 but was told by his team to return the position, but his mistake a few corners later ended his race and brought out another safety car.
Up ahead though Miyata remained comfortable, pulling clear of Fittipaldi at the restart as the Brazilian’s attention was focused on fending off a charging Van Hoepen.
The Trident’s attack was all to no avail as Fittipaldi secured his first podium in F2, with the Dutchman in third.
All the plaudits fell to Miyata though who, after a torrid few seasons in F2, claimed his first win in the series. Outside the podium places, Leon held off Stenshorne, with Camara, Dunne and Boya, in his home race, completing the points scorers.