Bennett passes Montoya on final lap for maiden F2 win

John Bennett claimed his maiden F2 victory in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint race at the Red Bull Ring, passing Sebastian Montoya on the final lap to win for TRIDENT. Bennett had led early, lost the advantage to Montoya in the middle phase of the 28-lap race, then reclaimed the lead on Lap 28 in a contest that featured several changes at the front. Montoya finished second and Rafael Villagomez took third to complete the podium.

Earlier in the weekend, Noel Leon took his first Formula 2 pole position for Campos Racing in qualifying with a lap of 1 minute 15.544 seconds. Leon secured pole by staying out while most of the field pitted, a strategy that paid off as the track evolved. Alex Dunne was second, 0.129 seconds behind, and Nikola Tsolov was third, with Gabriele Mini fourth and Rafael Camara fifth. The entire field from Leon in first to Nicola Varrone in 22nd was covered by less than 1.3 seconds.

Sebastian Montoya qualified 10th, which gave him reverse-grid pole for the sprint race, and John Bennett narrowly broke into the top 10 to line up alongside him on the front row. Leon’s pole positioned him well for Sunday’s feature race at the Austrian Grand Prix weekend.