Stoneman wins in Marrakech chaos
Dean Stoneman converted his maiden Formula 2 pole position into a first victory in a turbulent opening race of the weekend in Morocco
The unforgiving Marrakech street circuit helped to spice up the action as several accidents forced a stop/start race which eventually ended under safety car conditions.
Stoneman led confidently from pole, keeping Jolyon Palmer at bay on the first lap while drama unfolded behind. Nicola de Marco attacked Jack Clarke for third at Turn 4, but both ran wide and then tangled after rejoining, eliminating both on the spot.
Just yards behind them, Benjamin Bailly outbraked himself and speared into Will Bratt. With four cars stranded on the same section of track, the safety car was scrambled for the first time.
Philipp Eng made the best job of the restart and surged through a narrow gap between Johan Jokinen and a concrete wall to take third place, while behind Mihai Marinescu took fifth from Kelvin Snoeks.
Stoneman roared clear at the front, lapping over a second faster than anyone else, while Kazim Vasiliauskas, Armaan Ebrahim and Sergei Afanasiev began to charge through the field after starting from the pitlane.
Marinescu slowed and parked with an apparent loss of drive, shortly before Vasiliauskas - who had made his way up to ninth - was assaulted from behind by Natalia Kowalska, who missed her braking point for Turn 4. Her abandoned car required another full course yellow, but Vasiliauskas rejoined 13th.
The next restart gave Palmer his best, and only, opportunity to wrestle the lead from Stoneman, but the leader defended well and soon started to pull clear again. Behind them, Jokinen attempted to regain third from Eng with a run up the outside at Turn 1, but he slid wide off line and spun into the wall - safety car number three.
With the race approaching its 40-minute maximum, a one-lap shootout looked likely. But Palmer's car stopped suddenly on the back straight, robbing him of second place and the race of a thrilling climax. Time ran out before the cars could be unleashed for a final racing lap, leaving Stoneman unchallenged in first, Eng second and Snoeks a surprise third.
Pos Driver Time/Laps 1. Dean Stoneman 42m59.528s 2. Philipp Eng +1.277 3. Kelvin Snoeks +1.820 4. Ivan Samarin +2.485 5. Ricardo Teixeira +3.500 6. Armaan Ebrahim +3.781 7. Paul Rees +4.733 8. Sergei Afanasiev +5.451 9. Benjamin Lariche +6.708 10. Kazim Vasiliauskas +7.382 11. Parthiva Sureshwaren +7.852 12. Plamen Kralev +9.442 13. Ajith Kumar +11.099 Not classified Jolyon Palmer 16 laps Johan Jokinen 13 laps Natalia Kowalska 8 laps Mihai Marinescu 7 laps Jack Clarke 0 laps Will Bratt 0 laps Nicola de Marco 0 laps Benjamin Bailly 0 laps Fastest lap, Stoneman 1m31.817s
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