Jolyon Palmer took a pole to flag victory in Race 1 in Portimão to post his fourth win of the season. Palmer led from the start, and managed to stay there even through a Safety Car period after Dean Stoneman and Philipp Eng tripped over each other. Palmer would lead Zolder winner Benjamin Bailly across the line by a gap of 2.5 seconds.
Brit Jack Clarke took his maiden Formula Two podium in third, but he had to fight for it as Kasim Vasiliauskas was right behind him after the restart.
In a race where overtaking was a novelty, the main incident was the incident between Stoneman and Eng. On the approach to the hairpin at Turn Five the duo, who are both flying high in the championship, were passed by Nicola De Marco. As they both turned in, it was Eng who made contact with his British rival and seemed to push him around the corner. Eng continued in sixth, whereas Stoneman struggled home in twelfth.
Vasiliauskas came home in fourth, and was about to make a move for third, when the Safety Carwas deployed after Plamen Kralev’s spin.On the restart Vasiliauskas would make a move on Clarke using one of his overboost options, but the Brit defended down the straight, holding on to take third. Eng finished in sixth, behind De Marco, but reportedly on the slowdown lap, was run in to by Stoneman. The pair also clashed in Monza, and it would seem as though the rivalry is hotting up once again.
Ricardo Teixeira held off India’s Armaan Ebrahim to claim seventh, with Ebrahim charging through the field from sixteenth on the grid. Benjamin Lariche claimed a lonely ninth, with an unusually quiet Sergey Afanasiev rounding out the top 10. Natalia Kowalska just missed out on her maiden Formula Two points finish, but is another driver who can be proud of their race. After dropping to the back of the field following a touch from Mihai Marinescu, she managed to get past 5 other drivers to claim eleventh.
