Ritomo Miyata wins out after intense first F2 race at Madring
Hitech's Ritomo Miyata won Formula 2's inaugural race at the Madring circuit, putting his name up in the history books after coming out on top in the 23-lap sprint race. He took the win, with AIX Racing's Emerson Fittipaldi Jr and Trident's Laurens van Hoepen following him home to round out the top three.
Further back, Campos' Noel León finished fourth, while Rodin's Martinius Stenshorne came home fifth on the road. He finished ahead of Rafael Câmara's Invicta in sixth, the Brazilian making up ground in the championship.
The other Rodin car of Alex Dunne came home seventh on the road, while PREMA's Mari Boya scored the final point in eighth, at his home event. He climbed up the order after a strong opening lap on the soft tyres, on a different strategy to the rest.
MP Motorsport's Gabriele Minì too climbed up to ninth, with Sunday's pole-sitter Dino Beganovic coming home in 10th.
AS IT UNFOLDED - F2 Sprint at the Madring
Hitech's Colton Herta withdrew from the 23-lap sprint at Madrid, with the team having worked on his car during a restricted period, breaching Article 21.6a of the FIA Formula 2 regulations.
The American driver was set to start from 12th on the grid for both races, after a late incident in qualifying on Friday.
The start to Saturday's sprint race was delayed by 10 minutes, due to the repairs to barriers after a late incident for Haas' Ollie Bearman in Formula One's Free Practice 3 session. The formation lap was slated to get underway at 14:35 local time (13:35 BST).
It was Emerson Fittipaldi Jr starting from the front, with Hitech's Ritomo Miyata on the front row for the sprint. Neither driver or team had found themselves on the top step of the podium, and the Madring's tight confines presented a massive opportunity to do so.
The Japanese driver took his opportunity off the five red lights, getting past the AIX Racing driver as the field rounded into Turn 1. But the opening lap brought yet more chaos, as drivers aimed to go for overtakes from the off. With a mix of drivers on soft compound and the hard compound of tyres during the race, drivers looked to make the best use of their tyres.
Rafael Câmara made a late move on Dino Beganovic to make up a position, while Dunne dived down the inside of the Swedish driver heading into the uphill Turn 8.
An incident at the first corner saw Trident's John Bennett and PREMA Racing's Sebastián Montoya make contact, spinning the British driver around and leaving him further down the order.
The next incident at Turn 8 saw Kush Maini clatter into the rear right tyre of VAR's Nico Varrone, sending the Argentine driver into the barriers and causing the safety car period into an already delayed start to the race.
Maini and Bennett returned to the pits, but with the Indian driver suffering a broken front wing, he would not rejoin the race, with the team trying to fix the ART and get back into the race. Montoya would join the pack, as would Bennett, but both two laps down on the rest.
As green flag running resumed, Dunne attempted to make a move on Câmara for seventh, unable to do so. The Brazilian driver went off track at Turns 6 and 7, but managed to maintain position. He was not able to shake off the Irishman, though.
Further back, PREMA Racing's Mari Boya and MP Motorsport's Gabriele Minì had ascended into the top 10 on their soft tyres, while van Hoepen chased down Campos' Noel León for a podium position. The Trident man's chase eventually saw him dive down the inside of the challenging Turn 5, going down the inside of the corner.
The Mexican driver, though, was forced off track, and despite rejoining just behind the Trident, made his move to take back third position at the tricky Turn 8 corner, much to van Hoepen's dismay.
Having been noted by the stewards for gaining a lasting advantage, León returned the position to van Hoepen heading into Turn 13. Teammate Tsolov eventually radioed to the team shortly after, asking the team to think smart, and let the Bulgarian, a title contender this year, up into fourth.
Despite his efforts, Tsolov wouldn't move past the Mexican driver. His chase for fourth looked to have ended on Lap 14, but the Bulgarian returned the position, having moved past off the track.
A crucial moment left Tsolov disappointed with his sprint race, when his left rear tyre made contact with the inside barrier at Turn 20, spinning around on the racing line. He eventually climbed out of the race, becoming the sprint's fourth retirement and triggering the second safety car of the sprint.
The result was set to cost the championship leader valuable ground, with closest contender Câmara running in sixth, and set to close the gap ahead. The safety car also bunched up the field, bringing a hard charging van Hoepen into contention for the race victory on the soft tyres.
As the safety car came into the pits on Lap 17, drivers were left with six racing laps to decide the outcome of the F2 sprint. Miyata immediately set off on ensuring he set his bid for victory up, clearing the crucial one-second mark and sitting out of DRS to Fittipaldi Jr's AIX Racing behind.
Fittipaldi Jr then faced pressure from van Hoepen on the soft tyres, looking to climb up yet more in his quest for third.
Despite facing pressure from the chasing Trident, the AIX man held his own as the race entered its closing laps. Miyata, though, remained untroubled up ahead, taking Hitech's first win of the season, and the first of his F2 career with a clinical drive.
An exciting sprint in Madrid, here's how it all played out after 23 laps of racing in Madrid!
Classification - F2 Sprint at the Madring
Emerson Fittipaldi Jr (AIX Racing)
Ritomo Miyata (Hitech TGR)
Noel León (Campos Racing)
Laurens van Hoepen (Trident)
Martinius Stenshorne (Rodin Motorsport)
Rafael Câmara (Invicta Racing)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Mari Boya (PREMA Racing)
Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport)
Dino Beganovic (DAMS)
Roman Bilinski (DAMS)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Joshua Dürksen (Invicta Racing)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (ART Grand Prix)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing) - +3 laps
Nikola Tsolov (Campos Racing) - DNF
John Bennett (Trident) - DNF
Kush Maini (ART Grand Prix) - DNF
Nicolás Varrone (Van Amersfoort Racing) - DNF
Colton Herta (Hitech TGR) - DNS
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