Leo Fornaroli takes back-to-back F2 sprint race wins

Leonardo Fornaroli had to wait over three years for his second single-seater victory, but his third came just three weeks later with a Formula 2 sprint race win at Spa-Francorchamps.

The reigning Formula 3 champion made a superb start from third and took the lead before Les Combes, overtaking pole-sitters Oliver Goethe and Amaury Cordeel.

Home favorite Cordeel slotted into second ahead of Goethe, while a three-car incident involving Richard Verschoor, Luke Browning, and Jack Crawford unfolded behind them.

The contact occurred when championship leader Verschoor ran wide exiting Turn 1, squeezing Browning and Crawford. Browning ended up in the gravel, while Verschoor spun at Eau Rouge and also retired from the race.

Following the safety car period, Fornaroli maintained his lead and started to pull away from Cordeel. Behind them, Victor Martins passed Goethe and began to challenge the Belgian for second.

Martins attacked around the outside of Les Combes on lap 12 of 18, resulting in contact with Cordeel.

The incident sent Cordeel into the gravel and out of the race, bringing out another safety car. Many drivers took advantage of the caution to pit for soft tires.

Effectively, only Fornaroli, Martins, Goethe, Gabriele Mini, and Kian Shields remained on track, occupying the top five positions at the restart. Of those, only Shields lost positions to the drivers behind, while the other four finished in the top four spots.

Fornaroli ultimately won ahead of Martins and Mini, the latter having overtaken Goethe after the restart. The pair then formed a DRS train, preventing those who had pitted – Pepe Marti, Roman Stanek, and Alex Dunne – from making further progress. They finished fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively, ahead of Ayumu Iwasa who rounded out the points.

The race finished under a third safety car appearance, which was deployed when Sami Meguetounif stopped on the Kemmel Straight with a mechanical issue. This further hampered the progress of the drivers who had pitted with fresher tires.

Heading into Sunday's feature race, Verschoor retains the championship lead with 122 points. The Dutchman holds a six-point advantage over Crawford, while today's winner Fornaroli sits third, eight points off the lead.

Round nine of the Formula 2 season concludes on Sunday with the 26-lap feature race, which will include a mandatory pit stop. Dunne will start from pole position alongside Iwasa.