Callum Ilott secured his maiden single seater victory after capitalising on an error by for Nick Cassidy to win race two at Paul Ricard on Saturday.
The British Van Amersfoort Racing driver was running second behind Prema Powerteam’s New Zealand racer for most of the race, but the error by Cassidy allowed former Red Bull-backed Ilott to snatch victory.
Cassidy also lost a place to Motopark’s Guanyu Zhou with his mistake, but claimed the runners-up spot after a last lap pass on the Chinese driver after a late safety car to retrieve Ralf Aron’s stranded Prema car after it lost a wheel bunched up the field.
It had been the second intervention after it was called upon on the opening lap following a multi-car accident that accounted for pole sitter Maximilian Günther, race one winner Lance Stroll, and Briton’s Ben Barnicoat and Harrison Newey.
Prema Powerteam’s Günther had made a slow getaway at the start, and found himself being swallowed up by the front runners, before finding himself in the wrong place when Hitech GP’s Barnicoat made an error and clashed with Stroll and Günther, with Van Amersfoort Racing’s Newey also caught up in the clash.
Motopark’s Joel Eriksson found himself launched into the air by the incident but was able to continue racing, add did Aron, who was spun around but was able to rejoin the race.
Mikkel Jensen finished fourth for Mücke Motorsport after a mid-race battle with Zhou, while Red Bull-backed Sergio Sette Camara took fifth for Motopark ahead of Carlin duo Alessio Lorandi and Ryan Tveter.
Anthoine Hubert had been running fifth until the final lap, but a mistake towards the end of the lap lost him three places, with the Van Amersfoort Racing driver being forced to settle for eighth.
Eriksson recovered superbly to take ninth for Motopark, while the final point went to South African Raoul Hyman of Carlin, who just beat Hitech GP’s George Russell, who had started last on the grid following his exclusion from qualifying, to the spot after an exciting midfield battle that went right down to the chequered flag.
Paul Ricard Race 2 Result
[table id=908 /]
