Richard Verschoor won this Sunday (15) the main race of the 12th round of the 2024 Formula 2 season, held on the circuit set up in the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan. The Trident driver started from pole position, was briefly overtaken by Victor Martins, but saw the round of pit stops put him back in the lead to secure the victory.
The second position went to Victor Martins, driver of the ART Grand Prix who managed to take the lead but was overtaken by Verschoor after the pit stops. Andrea Kimi Antonelli, in a Prema car, completed the podium in third place. Gabriel Bortoleto brought Invicta to fourth place and took over the championship lead with this position. Joshua Durksen, an AIX driver who won on Saturday, finished fifth.
Paul Aron, a Hitech driver, closed the race in sixth place, followed by Luke Browning, who was seventh in the second ART Grand Prix car. Jak Crawford brought Hitech to eighth place, with Dennis Hauger from MP Motorsport finishing the race in ninth. Christian Mansell from Trident completed the points zone in tenth place.
Another Brazilian on the Formula 2 grid, Enzo Fittipaldi finished the race in 11th place with the Van Amersfoort car, having started from 15th. Isack Hadjar, who arrived at the Azerbaijani urban circuit leading the championship, could not go beyond 14th place this Sunday in a car prepared by Campos Racing.
The race was marked by a severe accident at the start when Kush Maini was stationary on the track and was hit by Oliver Goethe, who rolled over, and Josep María Martí. The red flag was raised for the track to be cleared. Niels Koolen and Rafael Villagómez also retired. The drivers were unharmed, and the race was resumed after a long interruption for 38 minutes.
The race ended under Safety Car regime after Gabriele Mini, a Prema driver who made his debut in the category this weekend, crashed into the wall. The driver debuted in F2 after finishing as the vice-champion in Formula 3 two weeks ago in Italy.
As the race had only 17 of the initially scheduled 29 laps, the points awarded to the drivers did not cover the total points. Verschoor scored 19 points for the victory, instead of the 25 points typically awarded for races that complete more than 75% of the laps.
Formula 2 will have a long break in its championship and returns on November 30 and December 1 with the Qatar round, scheduled for the Lusail circuit.