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Silverstone F2: Nicholas Latifi wins after final lap restart

Nicholas Latifi produced a lights-to-flag victory in the second Formula 2 race at Silverstone to win ahead of Russian Time pair Luca Ghiotto and Artem Markelov

Latifi had to survive a last-lap shootout following a late safety car period, as championship leader and race one winner Charles Leclerc finished fifth.

Oliver Rowland finished fourth on the road but dropped to 10th in the final standings when a five-second penalty he picked up for a move on Markelov on lap one was applied.

At the start, Latifi led away from pole as his fellow front row-starter Jordan King made a poor getaway.

Rowland shot off the line from sixth on the grid and moved past the slow starting Sergio Canamasas to attack King for third on the outside of Abbey.

The Renault Formula 1 junior attacked his fellow Briton under braking at Village and moved ahead as they ran through the Loop.

But King kept his foot on the power around the outside and they rubbed wheels as they ran through Aintree, which led to King's retirement and cost Rowland momentum onto the straight.

He swung left to defend from Markelov but forced the Russian driver onto the grass, a move that earned him the 5s penalty - although the stewards absolved him of blame for the incident with King.

Latifi scampered clear in the lead, setting a string of fastest laps to build a large advantage in the early stages.

Rowland stalked Ghiotto, who had moved up to second as King got away slowly, and put him under immense pressure, but could not find a way by.

Markelov made it a three-way scrap in the closing stages and they were then joined by Leclerc, would had fought Canamasas - on three occasions nearly losing his front wing at the Loop as he tried to get by - for much of the race before eventually muscling through.

The big fight for second was paused when Ralph Boschung went off at high speed while attacking Alexander Albon on the approach to Stowe.

The Swiss driver went onto the grass on the inside, where he lost control, and speared into the outside wall.

His car was quickly cleared away after he climbed out and the race was restarted for a final lap blast to the flag.

Latifi held on to win by 1.7s, while Rowland attempted to shake things up by holding the pack back at the restart.

That allowed Latifi and Ghiotto to go clear but did not prevent Markelov from moving into a position to attack, which he did on the Wellington straight to take third.

Leclerc lost fifth on the road, a net fourth with Rowland's penalty, when Canamasas made a bold move around the outside of the penultimate corner stick.

Norman Nato was sixth, ahead of Nyck de Vries, who rocketed up the order from last on the grid at the start.

Nobuharu Matsushita ended up eighth, with Gustav Malja ninth and the demoted Rowland 10th.

Callum Ilott came home 15th in his second F2 race in a one-off appearance for Trident.

RACE TWO RESULT

Pos Driver Team Laps Gap
1 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 21 37m17.053s
2 Luca Ghiotto RUSSIAN TIME 21 1.717s
3 Artem Markelov RUSSIAN TIME 21 5.300s
4 Sergio Canamasas Rapax 21 7.698s
5 Charles Leclerc Prema Racing 21 7.943s
6 Norman Nato Pertamina Arden 21 8.279s
7 Nyck de Vries Rapax 21 8.801s
8 Nobuharu Matsushita ART Grand Prix 21 9.484s
9 Gustav Malja Racing Engineering 21 10.618s
10 Oliver Rowland DAMS 21 12.263s
11 Alexander Albon ART Grand Prix 21 13.262s
12 Robert Visoiu Campos Racing 21 13.535s
13 Antonio Fuoco Prema Racing 21 13.825s
14 Louis Deletraz Racing Engineering 21 14.386s
15 Callum Ilott Trident 21 14.665s
16 Sergio Sette Camara MP Motorsport 21 14.925s
17 Sean Gelael Pertamina Arden 21 15.871s
18 Nabil Jeffri Trident 21 45.918s
- Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 17 Retirement
- Jordan King MP Motorsport 1 Retirement

DRIVERS' STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Charles Leclerc 188
2 Artem Markelov 121
3 Oliver Rowland 117
4 Nicholas Latifi 91
5 Luca Ghiotto 86
6 Norman Nato 67
7 Nobuharu Matsushita 66
8 Alexander Albon 59
9 Jordan King 49
10 Nyck de Vries 47
11 Gustav Malja 28
12 Antonio Fuoco 23
13 Sergio Canamasas 21
14 Johnny Cecotto Jr. 16
15 Ralph Boschung 11
16 Sergey Sirotkin 9
17 Sean Gelael 3
18 Sergio Sette Camara 0
19 Robert Visoiu 0
20 Louis Deletraz 0
21 Nabil Jeffri 0
22 Roberto Merhi 0
23 Stefano Coletti 0
24 Callum Ilott 0
25 Raffaele Marciello 0


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