All images ©: Dutch Photo Agency
Invicta Racing took another podium in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race in Qatar after a penalty denied on-the-road winner Gabriel Bortoleto, and holds the lead in both championships heading into next week's Abu Dhabi decider.
The Feature Race was scheduled for 32 laps but was delayed by some 15 minutes due to barrier repairs following an incident in another support category. Along with a couple of Safety Cars, this brought the race to a time limit.
With Gabriel on the Medium tyre for the start and Kush Maini on the Hard tyres, both Invicta drivers got a good start. Gabriel vaulted into the lead ahead of polesitter Paul Aron while Kush was able to hold position despite being on harder tyres.
Gabriel was able to pull away a bit from Aron, while Kush initially held the lead of those on the opposite strategy before dropping a few places.
A pitlane incident resulted in a Virtual Safety Car, which was brought out just before Gabriel was about to pit. Now unable to make his mandatory pitstop, he had committed to the pit entry but moved over back to the track just before it was called.
He then pitted when it became a full Safety Car, which also massively compromised those who started on Hards including Kush. However, Gabriel picked up a five-second time penalty for not following the Race Director’s instructions following his previous attempt to pit.
Gabriel was seventh for the restart but leading those who had stopped, with Kush third on the road. Once racing resumed, there was another Safety Car for an incident on the track.
On a messy restart, Kush was able to get by Joshua Duerksen to hold second before dropping back behind and subsequently pitting in the closing stages. His race was affected massively by the timing of the Safety Cars and finished 15th.
Gabriel had to build a gap to the cars behind, and work past the Hard-starting runners in front and he was able to do that. He passed Josep Maria Martí and Luke Browning before those in front pitted.
With time running out, he built out a lead to Aron and to title rival Isack Hadjar, who was battling with Oliver Goethe in the final laps.
The gap to Aron was not enough in the end, and Gabriel came up just 0.4 of a second short of denying Hadjar. However, he had enough of an advantage to Goethe and finished third once the penalty had been applied.
As a result, Gabriel holds a gap of just half a point to Hadjar, with Aron still in the mix 25.5 points behind. Invicta Racing has a gap of 31.5 points to Campos Racing, with MP Motorsport and Hitech narrowly in mathematical contention for next week’s finale in Abu Dhabi.
GABRIEL BORTOLETO
"While we came away with a podium today, I am disappointed as we won on the road and we should have taken away many more points than we did. It was just really unfortunate timing with when the Virtual Safety Car was called as I had already committed to pitting and there was not the time to react to it. Despite that, I am proud of everything we have done today as we showed really strong pace and the team gave me a great car. We will fight until the very end in Abu Dhabi, where we will have to be as strong as we possibly can be in the battle for the titles."
FEATURE RACE RESULTS
- Started: 2nd
- Finished: 3rd
- Points: 15
KUSH MAINI
"There was not much luck for us out there today at all, which is a real shame. The timing of the two Safety Cars massively compromised us and there was little more that we could do. We had a decent start considering we were on Hard tyres, but once we were passed by the Medium runners early on it was tricky to recover. We move on and hopefully we can end the year on a high note in Abu Dhabi."
FEATURE RACE RESULTS
- Started: 7th
- Finished: 15th
- Points: 0
ANDY ROCHE, TEAM PRINCIPAL
"It was a little bit frustrating to not win today after taking the chequered flag on the road. Gabriel was exceptional all weekend, highlighted by his great pace in the final part of the race where he tried to build out a gap to the cars behind. Kush was once more really unlucky with how his race panned out after a really good effort all weekend. Despite the challenges, we hold onto both championship leads and that is something we will look to maintain heading into Abu Dhabi next week."
