Leonardo Fornaroli claimed back to back sprint race victories from Silverstone to Spa. The Invicta racing driver currently leads the F2 Driver’s Championship after securing another victory.
Leonardo Fornaroli sped to another sprint victory, this time around the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit during the F2 Belgian GP weekend. The Italian driver has been impressive this year, eager to illustrate his championship potential.
Back-to-back sprint victories
The 20-year-old went years without a race victory as he won Formula 3 in 2024, while winless, he finally grabbed a victory in Silverstone. Now, the Italian soared to another sprint victory in Belgium. When asked how he feels about grabbing two victories back to back after the long-awaited first win, the Invicta driver expressed:
“Yeah, very happy. We managed to have a very good start and to lead into T1. Then we had the Safety Car and the race restart, I was just managing and controlling behind to be able to have a gap and to get out of the DRS of Cordeel. He tried to attack me one time in T5 but I managed to defend. I saw I was pulling away, so I started to manage a lot better the tyres, because I know here the deg and the overheating is quite high. Everything was very sensitive. Then with the gap behind I was quite calm.
Then with the Safety Car I saw that a lot of cars pitted for Option tyres, my engineer asked me if I wanted to pit when I was in the Bus Stop, it was very on the limit, I really didn’t know what to do but I was still feeling good with the tyres so I decided to stay out. Lots of cars pitted, we were left with only five on Prime, the rest were on Options so I knew it was going to be really difficult, also because the circuit is very long. There are lots of corners to recover us.
Also I had Victor behind, he has a lot of experience and he is very quick. I knew it was not going to be easy, but I felt super good with the car. Like Silverstone, I managed to be quick at the start but without destroying the tyres. After the Safety Car restart I was able to push and improve my lap times. We managed to stay in front and take the win, so I am very happy again with this one.”
Crucial start led to victory and seizing the championship lead
Fornaroli qualified P7, putting him in third place on the starting grid for the sprint. The green lights went out, and the young Italian immediately took the lead into the first corner after a great launch off the line. He managed to hold onto the lead during the restarts all the way to the chequered flag. The Invicta racing driver explained that the better-than-expected start was crucial to the result, stating:
“Yes, it was my goal to overtake one or two cars into T1, all the practice starts were good yesterday so I knew we had great potential. I am happy it went very well at the start.”
Additionally, the Invicta racing driver was asked about the F2 driver championship. Questioned about the possibility of the feature race closing the gap to the leader. The Italian explained that there are still many rounds to go, leaving everything on the table:
“It’s going to be hard now, eight points to P1 in the Championship means nothing still because we have many rounds to go. Also, because tomorrow anything can happen. It looks like it is going to rain a lot. It’s not going to be easy, but I will try my best.”
After the sprint race, Fornaroli was 8 points away from leading the driver’s championship. However, following the feature race on Sunday, and the disqualification of the shortly re-claimed championship leader Alex Dunne. Fornaroli now leads the championship with 3 points to Verschoor in second. The Formula 2 fight for the title remains as tight as ever. Fornaroli will hope to continue his strong momentum into the upcoming Hungarian GP weekend.
