Marcus Armstrong has taken his first win of the 2022 Formula 2 season with a victory off the line in the Imola sprint race.
The action started before cars had made the grid, with Roy Nissany having a moment into Acque Minerali, before Amaury Cordeel completely lost it and hit the barriers, damaging his rear left tyre and ending his race before it had started.
Logan Sargeant had taken partially-reversed-grid pole but was beaten off the line by Armstrong and then relegated to fifth quickly over the first few corners. Armstrong was able to pull ahead despite a strong challenge from Roy Nissany, who had roared up from fifth.
David Beckmann was crashed out on the first lap, following contact with Clement Novalak, prompting a Safety Car before the lead cars had reached the Rivazzas.
The Safety Car was called in at the end of lap four and Armstrong led the field away into lap five, while Jehan Daruvala and Dennis Hauger battled for second and third behind him.
A Virtual Safety Car was called on lap ten when Ralph Boschung suffered a mechanical failure and retired from the race, marshals pushing his Campos away. He had been running in sixth at the time, having started seventh.
An intense, three-way battle between Nissany, Logan Sargeant and Felipe Drugovich for fourth saw Nissany manage to hold on despite a constant challenge from Sargeant on the restart.
By lap 14 Daruvala was in DRS range of Armstrong and setting faster laps but the Hitech driver was able to defend the lead and by a few laps later seemed to have won the tyre management battle. On lap 20 Armstrong had a second’s worth of advantage over Daruvala and was able to hold that.
Ferderik Vesti was putting Jack Doohan under serious pressure for tenth place by lap 19 and managed to make a move stick into Acque Minerali, taking the position.
Despite carrying a visibly loose piece of bodywork, Hauger managed to hold on to third despite Nissany chasing him down on the final lap.
Armstrong passed the chequered flag first,…