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Sochi F2: Zhou takes maiden win after red flags for Aitken/Ghiotto crash

Guanyu Zhou scored his maiden Formula 2 win in the truncated Sochi sprint race following a high-speed crash between Jack Aitken and Luca Ghiotto on lap eight of 21

Campos driver Aitken made a quick start from third on the grid to pass Hitech's Nikita Mazepin and challenge poleman Zhou for the lead into Turn 2.

However, Aitken's charge didn't last for long and Mazepin repassed him on the lap two, before he was demoted a further position to fourth by Prema's Mick Schumacher, who had made a lighting getaway from eighth following his victory in Saturday's feature race.

Out front, Mazepin had brought the deficit to Zhou down to under half a second when the race was halted following a massive crash between Aitken and Ghiotto.

Ghiotto had dived up the inside of Aitken heading into Turn 2, but the Campos driver got a better exit and drew alongside into the long Turn 3 left-hander. But at full speed, Aitken's car washed out and hit Ghiotto, sending both straight into the Tec-Pro barriers where Ghiotto's Hitech machine caught fire.

Both drivers fortunately emerged unscathed, but the race was red-flagged immediately due to damage sustained to the barriers

FIA race director Michael Masi was seen at the crash site to assess the damage, but after 25 minutes of waiting a decision was made to not restart.

With less than 75% of the race distance completed, only half the points were awarded to the top eight finishers.

Zhou therefore took his long-awaited first victory in his second F2 season, while Mazepin finished second ahead of championship leader Schumacher.

Aitken and Ghiotto were classified fourth and fifth respectively as the results were taken at the end of lap five, while Red Bull/Honda junior Yuki Tsunoda was classified sixth ahead of title rival Callum Ilott (Virtuosi).

DAMS driver Dan Ticktum picked up half a point for finishing eighth.

Carlin's Jehan Daruvala was running behind teammate Tsunoda, but was handed a five-second penalty for not following the correct procedure to rejoin the track after running wide at Turn 2, dropping him down to 11th.

F2 Sochi sprint race results - 5 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi Dallara/Mecachrome 10m01.184s
2 Nikita Mazepin Hitech Grand Prix Dallara/Mecachrome 0.818s
3 Mick Schumacher Prema Racing Dallara/Mecachrome 4.816s
4 Jack Aitken Campos Racing Dallara/Mecachrome 6.459s
5 Luca Ghiotto Hitech Grand Prix Dallara/Mecachrome 7.670s
6 Yuki Tsunoda Carlin Dallara/Mecachrome 8.282s
7 Callum Ilott UNI-Virtuosi Dallara/Mecachrome 9.141s
8 Dan Ticktum DAMS Dallara/Mecachrome 9.769s
9 Pedro Piquet Charouz Racing System Dallara/Mecachrome 10.506s
10 Robert Shwartzman Prema Racing Dallara/Mecachrome 11.244s
11 Jehan Daruvala Carlin Dallara/Mecachrome 11.988s
12 Artem Markelov BWT HWA RACELAB Dallara/Mecachrome 12.438s
13 Christian Lundgaard ART Grand Prix Dallara/Mecachrome 13.536s
14 Marcus Armstrong ART Grand Prix Dallara/Mecachrome 14.053s
15 Marino Sato Trident Dallara/Mecachrome 14.611s
16 Giuliano Alesi MP Motorsport Dallara/Mecachrome 15.032s
17 Louis Deletraz Charouz Racing System Dallara/Mecachrome 15.717s
18 Juri Vips DAMS Dallara/Mecachrome 17.100s
19 Roy Nissany Trident Dallara/Mecachrome 17.757s
20 Felipe Drugovich MP Motorsport Dallara/Mecachrome 38.002s
- Guilherme Samaia Campos Racing Dallara/Mecachrome Retirement
- Jake Hughes BWT HWA RACELAB Dallara/Mecachrome Retirement

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