MONTE CARLO – Barbadian race car driver Zane Maloney came way from the Monaco Formula 2 Grand Prix weekend practically empty-handed and dropped out of the lead in the drivers’ standings.
(Photo courtesy of Formula 2)Maloney, 20, did not finish the sprint race on Saturday at the Circuit de Monaco and finished 10th in the feature race on Sunday to earn only one point from the weekend of racing.
The Rodin Motorsport driver now has 69 points for the season, which has six more races, and he is third in the standings behind Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Paul Aron of Estonia, on 80, and Campos Racing driver Isack Hadjar of France.
In the teams’ standings, Campos lead the way with 104 points, while Hitech Pulse-Eight move up to second place with 95, one point ahead of MP Motorsport in third, while Rodin Motorsport drop to fourth with 85 points, and Invicta Racing round out the top five on 84.
Maloney started 12th on the grid in the sprint race, and he moved up to 11th about halfway through the race when he looked to dive down on the inside of Art Grand Prix driver Zak O’Sullivan of Great Britain for 10th at the Turn 6 hairpin.
The two made contact leading Maloney to lose a piece of his front wing endplate, and his day then came to an end at La Rascasse after he locked up into the corner before being sent into a spin by Dams Lucas Oil driver Juan Manuel Correa of the United States.
AIX Racing driver Taylor Barnard put in a dominant performance from reverse grid pole position to earn the first F2 win for him and the team.
The British driver to the top step of the podium in the principality after he defied a challenge from Invicta driver Gabriel Bortoleto of Brazil, and a late red flag caused by Maloney and the second Invicta driver, Kush Maini of India stopping on the track.
Bortoleto sealed his second successive trip to the podium when he finished second, while MP driver Dennis Hauger of Norway came home in third.
Maloney started 14th on the grid in the feature race, and he was prompted to swap his supersoft tyres for the softs after the 10th of the 42-lap race.
As the race unfolded, Maloney continued to fight, and he touched Barnard at the Turn 6 hairpin, with the AIX racer losing a piece of his front wing.
After being given the hurry up on the radio, Prema Racing driver Kimi Antonelli of Italy finally made his way past MP driver Franco Colapinto of Argentina at the final corner, and this opened the way for Bortoleto and Maloney, who also overtook the MP Motorsport driver.
On Lap 40, AIX driver Joshua Düerksen of Paraguya was next to pit, but collided with Maloney at Turn 1, and he stopped on track, while the Rodin Motorsport driver continued on to finish.
Up front, O’Sullivan got his F2 win in the most dramatic of circumstances after he used a late virtual safety car (VSC) to his advantage.
The British driver went long in his first stint after starting from 15th on the grid, and a VSC caused by Düerksen came out on the penultimate lap.
O’Sullivan pitted and came out in the lead, and he held off Hadjar on a thrilling final lap to take victory, with the Campos driver taking second, and Aron finishing third.
The next F2 GP weekend takes place from June 21 to 23 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in the Spanish city of Barcelona.
The F2 world championship, sanctioned by the FIA, motor sport’s world governing body, is an open-wheel racing category serving as the second tier to the F1 world championship in the FIA global pathway.
Races are held on select circuits on the F1 Grand Prix schedule, and all teams and drivers contest the championship in the same model car.
