Maloney climbed from eighth to top the podium in Friday’s opening race of the F2 season and put on another fine display on Saturday to establish an early championship lead with a maiden feature race win.
Maloney went against the trend to start on soft tires but was able to switch onto the harder rubber late on to maintain his advantage after a safety car interruption.
Front row pair Gabriel Bortoleto and Isaac Hadjar hardened a dreadful start as the pair collided at Turn 1 after being jumped by Maloney.
While the majority of the field were able to avoid Hadjar’s stricken car, Enzo Fittipaldi was the unlucky party as he plowed into Hadjar’s sidepod with his Van Amersfoort Racing entry, causing the safety car to be called into action.
Both drivers retired on the spot while Bortoleto, who sustained front wing damage, was handed a 10-second penalty.
Williams Academy driver Zak O’Sullivan and MP Motorsport drivers Dennis Hauger climbed to second and third in the early melee, both on hard tires.
After the safety car returned to the pits, Jack Crawford He began to make moves through the order on his soft rubber, passing Hauger at Turn 10 for fourth.
This momentum was tempered when he was among a handful of drivers to have been noted for a safety car infringement, although no further action was the eventual ruling.
Also making moves was Pepe Marti, who was freed by the hard-shod O’Sullivan into second after starting in 11th.
At the end of lap 10, Martins was the first driver to pit for his mandatory stop, switching onto the soft tires with 22 laps still to complete, dropping from 11th to the rear of the field.
Another early stopper was PHM AIX driver Taylor Barnard who, after a slow stop, was forced to return to the pits after his right rear tire was not fitted correctly.
Oliver Bearman‘s day had gotten off to a poor start as he was forced into the pits at the start with a technical issue.
But as he headed for the pits to take his mandatory stop, he came together with Amaury Cordeel, leading to the latter’s retirement. Shortly afterwards, Bearman lost a front wing endplate as a result of the contact.
Zane Maloney, Rodin Motorsport
Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd
The pitstop phase continued to deliver drama as Crawford retired at his stop. It initially appeared that the American had stalled, but as the laptop came out and was plugged into the car, it became clear that there was more drama than had initially appeared to be the case.
Moments before leaders Maloney and Marti pitted, Martins retired from the race with a loss of power, causing the safety car to be deployed once more.
The big winner of the safety car was Kush Maini, who had originally taken pole position on Thursday before being disqualified. Fitting the soft rubber, I returned to the track in 11th. By the checked flag, he was able to recover to seventh.
When the safety car returned to the pits, the action was frenetic, with the Rodin-run Ritomo Miyata dropping back on his recently fitted hard tires.
But at the front, Maloney bucked the trend and streaked ahead on hard tires, with O’Sullivan unable to do anything on the soft equivalent.
More of a concern for O’Sullivan was Marti behind, who had closed to within DRS range and made his move for second at Turn 1 on lap 27. One lap later, it was Paul Aron‘s turn to push back O’Sullivan, promoting himself into the podium places.
For Maloney and Marti, it was their second trip to the podium in as many races, while it was a career-first top three result for Aron.
