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2024 IMOLA FLASHBACK: Franco Colapinto’s maiden Formula 2 victory
Franco Colapinto returns to Imola this season driving a Formula 1 car for Alpine, but a year ago he was winning his first race in Formula 2 for MP Motorsport.
As a rookie for the Dutch team, Colapinto made a daring move on Paul Aron to seal victory in the Sprint Race, but just how did he do it?
With Formula 2 set for another visit to Italy, we thought there would be not time like the present to recap our last trip to the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
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PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING
Imola is a track that holds very fond memories for Colapinto, given that it was the scene of his first Formula 3 victory in 2022, which coincidentally was also in a Sprint Race.
The Argentine would have entered the weekend in positive spirits and would not have wavered after the end of the first set of laps in Practice. Colapinto returned to the pit lane in P5, just 0.213s off Gabriel Bortoleto’s leading 1:29.423.
The MP driver improved his time late on and finished on a 1:29.509 in ninth, over six and half tenths back off pacesetter Aron, before a Red Flag shortened the session.
It was a difficult first part of Qualifying though for Colapinto, as went through the gravel at Turn 11, leaving him without a time on the board.
But after returning to the track on his Supersofts, the Argentine improved to P10 on the first run, before going to ninth on his final attempt, giving him his first top 10 Qualifying result of the season.
THE SPRINT RACE START
It meant that Colapinto was starting from second in the Sprint Race, next to the reverse grid pole-sitter Amaury Cordeel, although the Argentine had a difficult start.
Colapinto dropped to third at lights out as Aron jumped up ahead of him and the MP driver only just managed to maintain that position ahead of Roman Stanek and Zane Maloney into Turn 2.
An opening lap Safety Car following a multi-lap collision halted proceedings, but racing resumed on Lap 6 of 25.
Colapinto immediately made his move past Cordeel on the next lap. The Belgian ran wide on to the gravel at the final corner, and with that he was 2.1s behind Aron in the fight for the lead.
THE MIDDLE PHASE
The free air was doing Colapinto a world of good and by the of Lap 9, his deficit to Aron was 1.5s.
But the Estonian driver responded on the next couple of laps and the gap stabilised at 1.4s. That was until Colapinto completed the fastest lap of the race. A 1:30.352 put him within DRS range of the leader at the start of Lap 13.
The top two had separated themselves from the rest of the field as Cordeel, now 2.8s behind P2, held off a DRS train that included Maloney, Oliver Bearman, Bortoleto, Taylor Barnard and Richard Verschoor.
That gap was 3.7s on Lap 15 as Colapinto, again with the help of DRS, closed to within 0.217s of Aron on the run down to Turn 2.
However, Aron held off his advances, and Colapinto was not quite close enough to make a move past his fellow F2 rookie into the main overtaking spot at Turn 2.
CLOSING STAGES AND LAST LAP OVERTAKE
The pair had been fairly equal in lap time for much of the race, but at the start of Lap 20, it looked as if Aron had the edge, as he started to build a lead of 0.9s.
They continued to go back and forth as Colapinto closed in on Aron on Lap 21, before the race leader extended his advantage across the line on the next tour.
On to Lap 24 of 25 though, the MP driver closed to within 0.3s across the line and did well to stay with his rival for much of the lap. He found himself just over half a second behind at the penultimate corner.
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Colapinto’s pressure finally told though as Aron had a moment getting on the power at the final corner, giving the Argentinian driver his best, and most likely last chance to get ahead.
He did just that, as with the help of the DRS he was side-by-side heading into the chicane, and while Aron did his best to keep him at bay, Colapinto, now on the inside at corner exit, forced his way past.
Such was Colapinto’s pace that he crossed the line 1.6s clear of Aron, giving him and Argentina their first victory in Formula 2.