Written by Sean McKean
For the last race of the season, Sami Meguetounif won the finale, taking his second win of the season.
But it all came down to Fornaroli vs Minì, and a last lap move for the podium by Leonardo Fornaroli gave the Trident driver his first single-seaters title. It was the Italian’s seventh podium of the season.
As it unfolded
Despite a good initial getaway from championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli, Alex Dunne still managed to sneak through into the lead in Parabolica. Crucially, though, Sami Meguetounif passed Gabriele Minì at the beginning of Lap 2 – relegating the Prema driver to fourth. By Lap 3, a DRS train of the top four – Dunne, Fornaroli, Meguetounif, and Minì – began to form.
As Fornaroli fancied a move for the lead, the safety car came out for a four-car incident that involved championship protagonist Luke Browning. Browning had driven too deep into the Ascari corner, which triggered a stack-up that collected Matías Zagazeta, Cian Shields, Sophia Floersch, and Piotr Wiśnicki.
Although Browning did not retire from this crash, his championship hopes were gone.
The safety car came in at the end of Lap 6, with Dunne leading the restart. Minì dropped another position into fifth whilst Fornaroli continued pressuring for the lead. However, this damage was mitigated when Fornaroli drove straight through the gravel in Ascari – falling to fifth.
This left the Trident to now attack a struggling Minì ahead, with Fornaroli successfully making the move on Lap 8 in the corner wherein he ran wide.
Meanwhile, the battle for the lead continued to wage on. Meguetounif managed to take it from Dunne on Lap 10, but pressure from the now out-of-title-contention Christian Mansell also lingered. Mansell made the move stick around the Irishman one lap later for second.
Fornaroli cleared Dunne for the final podium spot on Lap 15, and Minì lost DRS to the pair. But, with Dunne’s tyres falling away, the Prema cleared him one lap later. The Trident eventually cleared Mansell ahead of him to get second as well; Minì did the same a few corners later.
With two laps to go, Minì made the crucial move to pass Fornaroli for second. Mansell then passed the Trident to give the championship lead to Minì as well.
But, on the final lap, Fornaroli sent a move into Parabolica on Mansell, taking the final spot on the podium and subsequently the championship with it.
Provisional Classification:
Sami Meguetounif (Trident)
Gabriele Minì (Prema Racing)
Leonardo Fornaroli (Trident)
Christian Mansell (ART Grand Prix)
Alex Dunne (MP Motorsport)
Martinius Stenshorne (Hitech GP) [FL]
Tim Tramnitz (MP Motorsport)
Noel León (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Laurens van Hoepen (ART Grand Prix)
Dino Beganovic (Prema Racing)
Joshua Dufek (AIX Racing)
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (AIX Racing)
Luke Browning (Hitech GP)
Kacper Sztuka (MP Motorsport)
Nikita Bedrin (AIX Racing)
Charlie Wurz (Jenzer Motorsport)
Tommy Smith (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Arvid Lindblad (Prema Racing)
Nikola Tsolov (ART Grand Prix)
Santiago Ramos (Trident)
Joseph Loake (Rodin Motorsport)
Sebastian Montoya (Campos Racing)
Callum Voisin (Rodin Motorsport) [DNF]
Noah Strømsted (Campos Racing) [DNF]
Max Esterson (Jenzer Motorsport) [DNF]
Mari Boya (Campos Racing) [DNF]
Piotr Wiśnicki (Rodin Motorsport) [DNF]
Cian Shields (Hitech GP) [DNF]
Sophia Floersch (Van Amersfoort Racing) [DNF]
Matías Zagazeta (Jenzer Motorsport) [DNF]
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