Bearman keeps Pourchaire at bay to secure Italian GP feature race win
3rd September 2023Prema’s Oliver Bearman secured his fourth Formula 2 win, in his rookie season, as ART’s Theo Pourchaire has extended his championship lead with 25 points over Prema’s Frederik Vesti.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great start from the pole sitter Pourchaire who had to contend with the Prema of Oliver Bearman into the opening corners. Although Trident’s Roman Stanek cut the opening chicane to hinder Bearman through the Curva Grande, it wasn’t long before the race lead changed hands.
Bearman and Pourchaire were side-by-side as they broke into turn four, at the the Della Roggia chicane, but it was the former who won the battle into turns four and five to take the race lead.
The yellow flags were quickly brought out after turn five as, championship contender, Frederik Vesti was squeezed off the circuit but Trident’s Roman Stanek into Lesmo 1 (T6).
As the Dane tried to keep his foot on the accelerator, Vesti touched the grass on the exit of turn five and lost control of the rear end of his car. The Danish driver rotated around and back out onto the track but he was able to glide the car backwards into the barrier to avoid any further collisions.
However, this marked the end of Vesti’s race – and potentially the end of his championship fight. Later on, Stanek was given a five-second time penalty for the incident.
Two corners later, Trident’s Clement Novalak found himself in the gravel on the exit of turn seven. The French driver’s race was done from that point as he could not get his car out of the gravel.
As a result of the two stranded F2 cars, the safety car was deployed. At the end of lap three, Bearman got the race back up to racing speed as the safety car pulled back into the pit lane.
On lap seven, the safety car was deployed once more as Dams’ Arthur Leclerc spun out through the first corner run-off area.
The Monegasque collected a number of polystyrene boards in spectacular fashion as he took evasive action to avoid a collision into turn one with slower-moving cars.
Due to the safety car, those who started the race on the purple-ringed super-soft tyres peeled into the pit lane to complete their mandatory stop. Such drivers included the top two of Bearman and Pourchaire.
Bearman was under investigation for an unsafe release from his pit box as he pulled out in front of the French ART driver which forced Pourchaire to subtly reduce his speed in the fast lane. No further action was deemed as the appropriate response by race control.
At the end of lap 11, the safety car rushed back to the pit lane which left the new race leader of MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala to lead the pack ahead of Jack Doohan (Invicta Virtuosi), Ayumu Iwasa (Dams) and Isack Hadjar (Hitech) who were all yet to pit.
There was a massive battle for the race lead as Doohan attempted a move on Daruvala into turn one but both drivers were quickly overtaken by Iwasa into the Della Roggia chicane, on the restart lap.
However, as the pack raced down the pit straight on the restart, there was a big shunt at the back of the field. Rodin Carlin Zane Maloney was the one who crashed down the pit straight after he was tagged from behind which sent him into the barriers on both sides of the circuit.
Maloney was seen outside the car on his feet albeit limping beside the medical delegate. Despite this, he was reported to be okay. PHM Racing by Charouz’s Roy Nissany was given a drive-through penalty for causing the collision.
Some of the medium runners decided to complete their mandatory stop during the safety car, as the pack filtered through the pit lane. This allowed Bearman to regain the race lead having already overtaken Doohan before the safety car intervention.
The race was finally back underway at the end of lap 16, led by Bearman.
Shortly after the restart, ART’s Victor Martins was called into the pit lane for repairs on lap 20, after he was given the black and orange flag, where he dropped out of the race from fifth. It was seen that the Frenchman’s DRS was wide open at all times.
The safety car was deployed for a third time in the 30-lap feature race after Campos’s Kush Maini beached his car in the gravel at the Lesmo corners.
Maini collided with Hitech’s Jak Crawford into the Curva Grande (T3) which saw the Campos’ front wing disconnect and Crawford was given a puncture for the incident.
With a four-lap shootout to decide the winner, the safety car peeled back into the pit lane at the end of lap 16. Bearman got the race back up to racing speed ahead of Pourchaire and Iwasa who occupied second and third.
As Bearman continued to rebuild his race lead, Pourchaire was forced to yield second place into the first corner as Iwasa overtook the Frenchman into the opening chicane.
The race was neutralised once more in the last laps as the track marshals were forced out onto the circuit to push Crawford’s car back into the access road.
Crawford and Stanek both blasted into the entry of the Ascari Chicane but only Stanek remained on track as Crawford skipped across the gravel trap. The Hitech driver was seen with significant suspension damage to his car which resulted in his retirement.
Podium:
- Oliver Bearman, Prema
- Ayumu Iwasa, Dams
- Theo Pourchaire, ART
That’s it for the article: Bearman keeps Pourchaire at bay to secure Italian GP feature race win!
Read more Formula Two here:
- Formula 2 unveil new generation of car ahead of 2024 season
- Novalak secures Dutch GP Feature Race as championship contenders retire
- F2 Belgian GP: Doohan secures feature race win from 11th on the grid
- F2 Hungary GP: Doohan dominates feature race with lights-to-flag performance
- British GP: Martins overcomes penalty to secure F2 Feature Race win
- Spanish GP: Bearman cruises to feature race victory as Martins charged to third
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
