Novalak claims first F2 victory as championship leaders crash out at Zandvoort

Clement Novalak clinched his maiden Formula 2 victory at Zandvoort after the two championship leaders retired in separate crashes.

The Trident driver started in 13th but profited from a Safety Car period to make his way to the front. Red Bull juniors Zane Maloney and Jak Crawford joined him on the podium.

Theo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti, who started the race at the top of the points standings, crashed out. The championship leaders therefore remain separated by 12 points.

Conditions were considerably drier than they have been yesterday, when the sprint race had to be abandoned. But the track was damp again, and drivers were split over whether to start on wet weather tyres or slicks.

Crawford started in pole position with Dennis Hauger joining him on the front row, while Vesti and Maloney lined up directly behind. All four opted for slicks, but some others further back chose to start on treaded wet weather tyres.

Race control decided to use a rolling start given the conditions, but the race’s first retirement happened on the Safety Car led formation lap as Jack Doohan spun at the final turn. Moments after the start, several drivers spun at the first corner.

Vesti was the first to lock up and spin, before Juan Manuel Correa tagged the back of Oliver Bearman which caused the Ferrari junior to drop from sixth. Maloney also had to run off-track to avoid the incident. The Safety Car was therefore called to return to the track, and Correa was later given a 10-second time penalty.

On the lap four restart, however, more drivers went off at turn one. Ayumu Iwasa made an ambitious lunge down the inside, only to then collide with Kush Maini in the battle for seventh.

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Although drivers continued to struggle with the damp conditions, it became clear slicks were the tyre to be on. On lap seven the wet weather runners switched to the medium tyres. One lap later the leader Crawford, who started on softs, also switched to mediums, completing his mandatory tyre change.

But pitting early proved to be costly for the Red Bull junior. Championship leader Theo Pourchaire, who had just jumped Isack Hadjar in the pits, crashed at turn seven on lap 10. A well-timed pit stop for Novalak, who ran a long first stint, allowed him to inherit the race lead ahead of Crawford.

Pourchaire’s demise handed a priceless opportunity for Vesti to close his championship deficit. But the following lap the Sauber junior would have been breathing a sigh of relief.

Having pitted and rejoined the track, Vesti got a shock as he accelerated through turns five and six only for both his rear wheels to fall off. It appeared his Prema team had failed to fit them correctly. The furious Vesti therefore missed his chance to gain on his title rival.

The race restarted on lap 17. Novalak kept his lead, while Maloney completed a daring overtake on Crawford for second around the outside of turn one. Bearman also dived past Martins at the same spot, but the ART driver came back at him at turn three. The pair banged wheels, sending Bearman into the barriers. He limped back to the pits and joined his team mate in retirement on a tough day for Prema. Martins was given a 10-second time penalty.

By now the delays meant the race was now running to its time limit. Novalak extended his lead to three seconds, but started to struggle with his tyres, which gave Maloney hopes of a late charge. With six minutes left, the gap was down to six tenths of a second, yet Maloney’s chances all but ended when he locked up at turn one.

This took the pressure off Novalak, who crossed the line 2.1 seconds ahead of Maloney with Crawford a further three tenths behind. Richard Verschoor came fourth, ahead of Hauger, Isack Hadjar, Enzo Fittipaldi, Amaury Cordeel and Martins, as Correa rounded up the top 10.

Novalak’s first win is only his second points finish of the season. While he moves up two places to 17th, Pourchaire keeps his lead ahead of Vesti, Iwasa and Doohan. Zandvoort was a point-less weekend for all top four drivers.

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Formula 2 Netherlands race two results

Position	Car	Driver	Team
1	21	Clement Novalak	Trident
2	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin
3	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech
4	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort
5	1	Dennis Hauger	MP
6	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech
7	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin
8	15	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi
9	6	Victor Martins	ART
10	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort
11	20	Roman Staněk	Trident
12	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz
13	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS
14	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS
15	17	Josh Mason	PHM Racing by Charouz
16	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos
17	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP
18	24	Kush Maini	Campos
DNF	8	Ollie Bearman	Prema
DNF	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema
DNF	5	Theo Pourchaire	ART
DNF	14	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi

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