Photo: Sam Bloxham/GP2 Series Media Service.

Artem Markelov?celebrated?a surprise?maiden GP2 win in the main race at?Monte-Carlo after?staying out for longest and taking advantage of two consecutive virtual safety car stints.

The race kicked off with Norman Nato taking advantage of a sluggish getaway from Sergey Sirotkin.

Although the Russian put pressure on Nato to retake the lead in the early laps, the duo, followed by Jordan King, Mitch Evans and Oliver Rowland, continued to run in an unchanged order.

On lap 18, the virtual safety car had its first of several deployments when Pierre Gasly, who started from the pitlane, hit Jimmy Eriksson from behind, leaving debris on track.

DAMS driver Nicholas Latifi became the first retirement a couple of laps later, having hit the wall while battling with Artem Markelov in the tunnel.

Shortly afterwards, it was Sirotkin following the Canadian as the ART driver went on the kerbs of the second Swimming Pool chicane too hard and crashed into the wall.

Drama continued with Nabil Jeffri damaging his car and then Jordan King hitting the kerbs at Mirabeau and retiring in the pits.

That promoted Rowland, who got ahead of Evans as the Kiwi cut the Nouvelle Chicane while defending from the Briton, into second.

Rowland pitted a lap early for super softs than race leader Nato, the Frenchman narrowly holding onto the lead after a poor pit stop.

After the Frenchman pitted, Markelov remained the only driver, who still had to change tyres.

Having impressively shown superior pace, Markelov looked set to finish well within the top 10 from 15th on the grid and when two consecutive VSC periods, caused by Luca Ghiotto first leaving debris and then retiring at?the hairpin, his situation improved significantly.

Pitting with just three laps to go, the Russian emerged just in front of Nato, who failed to pass him on Markelov’s outlap.

Markelov crossed the line first as a result with Nato and Rowland completing the podium.

Lynn took advantage of the five-second penalty Evans received for his earlier incident with Rowland as Raffele Marciello finished sixth.

Rookies Antonio Giovinazzi and Marvin Kirchhofer will start tomorrow’s sprint race from the front row, having taken seventh and eighth, as Nobuharu Matsushita and Daniel De Jong completed the top 10.

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Photo: Gruppe C

Mike Ortmann and Joey Mawson?were victorious in the two ADAC F4 races on Sunday at Sachsenring.

Ortmann, who took his maiden win yesterday, doubled up in Race 2 after stealing the lead in the penultimate lap on a safety car restart from Mick Schumacher.

The latter, starting?from pole, first had to hold off the advances of Mawson before the Australian dropping behind both Kim-Luis Schramm and Ortmann.

Schramm’s race ended prematurely after running wide and getting trapped in the gravel, which promoted Ortmann to second and allowed him to take the lead soon after.

Mawson completed the podium, followed by Jannes Fittje, karting graduate Nicklas Nielsen and French F4 convert Kami Laliberte.

Motopark’s Sophia Floersch fought her way up from 12th to 7th, finishing ahead of Prema duo Juri Vips and Juan Manuel Correa as well as Felipe Drugovich.

Mawson took his sixth consecutive podium and third win of the season in the final, reverse-grid race.

Ninth on the grid, he was up to third in just six laps and then took advantage of a tiny mistake from Nielsen.

The Australian then put massive pressure on long-time leader Simo Laaksonen before pulling off an overtake at Turn 1.

With just four laps to go, Mawson cruised to the finish with Laaksonen and Nielsen both taking their maiden podiums.

Prema duo Schumacher and Correa took fourth and sixth respectively, sandwiching Schramm.

Ortmann could only recover to seventh, followed by pole-sitter Jonathan Aberdein, who lost his lead after being hit by Laliberte on the opening lap.

Lechner’s Michael Waldherr and Floersch secured the final point-scoring positions.

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Photo: SMP F4 CHAMPIONSHIP

Jarno Opmeer was victorious in the second and last race in the SMP F4 season opener at Sochi.

The Dutch karting graduate was the early leader but spun?when Race 1 winner Richard Verschoor attempted to overtake him, which resulted in the latter’s retirement.

Opmeer dropped behind sophomores Alexey Korneev and Nikita Sitnikov as a result and the action was neutralized soon after, following an incident involving Aleksander Maslennikov.

On lap 8, Opmeer passed Sitnikov and soon got ahead of Korneev as well to secured his career-first win.

The aforementioned Russian duo completed the podium with Alexander Vartanyan repeating his Race 1 result in fourth.

Finn duo Rasmus Markkanen and Tuomas Haapalainen took fifth and sixth respectively, the latter dropping as low as 16th after the start.

Vladimir Tziortzis and Danny Kroes completed the top eight.

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Photo: SMP F4 Championship

Former karting star Richard Verschoor converted his pole position into a victory in his first ever car race in the?SMP F4 opener at?Sochi.

Although the 15-year-old lost the lead at the start to fellow Dutchman Jarno Opmeer, he quickly recovered and led most of the race.

Just as Verschoor dropped down to second,?the safety car entered the?track due to a number of contact-enforced retirements, with?Alexey Korneev,?Tuomas Tujula, Zakhar Slutskii, Rasmus Markkanen and Tuomas Haapalainen?all eliminated.

However, Verschoor was back in the lead once the race continued.

Although he couldn’t shake Opmeer, it was Verschoor taking the checkered flag first to win the?first single-seater race of his career in front of the Formula 1 teams.

Fellow karting graduates Opmeer and Rasmus Markkanen completed the podium, the latter taking advantage of a mistake from Nikita Sitnikov.

Alexander Vartanyan climbed from 11th to fourth ahead of Sitnikov and?Danny Kroes.?Henri Kauppi took seventh in front of Xavier Lloveras with?Aleksander Maslennikov ninth and Artem?Petrov taking 10th.

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Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography

Parker Thompson doubled up by winning?Race 2 at Barber Motorsports Park and taking the USF2000 points lead as a result.

The Canadian had a better launch than fellow Cape Motorsports teammate Anthony Martin and took the lead at the start.

Martin on the other hand, was unable to hold on to second as he was quickly demoted by both Luke Gabin and Jordan Lloyd.

The first of two safety car periods started on Lap 2 in order to clear the damaged car of James Munro and on the restart Martin lost another position to Victor Franzoni.

At the front, Thompson was unchallenged but a mistake from Gabin allowed Lloyd through, only for the duo and Franzoni to make contact.

While Gabin stayed in second, the Brazilian dropped as low as 13th and Lloyd went a lap down with front wing damage, bringing out caution.

Thompson nailed the second restart and cruised to the finish with Gabin securing second, holding off Martin.

The latter was overtaken by Pelfrey driver and top rookie Robert Megennis on the penultimate lap, the American scoring his second podium in four races.

Nikita Lastochkin brought a third Cape car into the top five with Ayla Agren taking sixth.

Garth Rickards finished seventh, followed by Austin McCusker, the recovering Franzoni and TJ Fischer.

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Photo: Paul Davies Photography

Max Fewtrell celebrated his first victory of his car racing career, having converted his pole position into a victory in the third and final MSA Formula race at Donington.

Kicking off the race from pole, the Carlin driver had a good getaway and quickly established a lead of a second, which remained unchanged until the end of the race.

Fellow front row starter Alex Quinn had a poor launch to drop as low as sixth, allowing Australian driver Luis Leeds to take his third second place in the past four races.

The podium was completed by Ross Martin, with James Pull passing Sennan Fielding to take fourth.

Quinn failed to recover and settled for sixth, followed by Ginetta Junior champion Jamie Caroline, Arden duo Rafa Martins and Jack Martin and Harry Hayek.

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Photo: Paul Davies Photography

Sennan Fielding took his second consecutive reverse-grid win by leading every lap?of the second MSA Formula race at Donington Park.

The pole-sitter pulled away after both the start and the restart of a lengthy safety car stint, caused by a collision between Ross Martin and Devlin DeFrancesco.

Championship leader Petru Florescu fell behind James Pull for a couple of laps but the latter was forced to retire in the pits, allowing the Romanian to grab second.

Max Fewtrell brought a second Carlin car to the podium in third with Rafa Martins and Jamie Caroline rounding out the top five.

JHR duo Billy Monger and Jack Butel were sixth and seventh respectively, followed by Jack Martin and race one winner Alex Quinn, the latter recovering from the lower parts of the order after a mistake.

Ginetta Junior graduate Patrik Matthiesen grabbed his first points of the season for both himself and his team Joe Tandy Racing in 10th.

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Photo Clement Luck / DPPI

Formula Renault rookie Lando Norris will start the final Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 race at Aragon from the pole position.

The 16-year-old driver topped the second qualifying group, beating Max Defourny‘s?earlier time, the Belgian completing the same front row for the third time this weekend.

Norris outpaced fellow Briton Harrison Scott by 0.152 in his session, the latter narrowly securing?second and, as such, third on the grid from Nikita Troitskiy and Julian Falchero.

The aforementioned duo will start fifth and seventh as a result, alongside Dorian Boccolacci and Bruno Baptista respectively.

Russian trio Robert Shwartzman, Alexey Korneev and Vasily Romanov will complete the top 10 of the grid.

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Photo: Jakob Ebrey Motorsport

Racing Steps Foundation-protege Alex Quinn scored the?first victory of his car racing career in the first MSA Formula race at Donington Park.

Securing the pole position earlier today, the karting graduate led every lap of the race, which was red-flagged with three minutes to go.

Quinn finished the race less than a second ahead of Red Bull junior Luis Leeds and Carlin’s Max Fewtrell, the trio taking the same position they started in.

Fewtrell led his three teammates James Pull, Devlin DeFrancesco and Petru Florescu, the latter recovering from?last place.

Sennan Fielding and Jamie Caroline took seventh and eighth respectively with Billy Monger and Rafa Martins completing the top 10.

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Photo: Gregory Lenormand / DPPI

Max Defourny and Lando Norris dominated their respective qualifying groups to kick off the first and second Eurocup FR2.0 races of the season from the front row?at Aragon.

Reigning MSA Formula champion Norris was in the league of his own in the first session, ending up six tenths in the clear.

However, Defourny lowered the benchmark with his time of 1m55.159s in the subsequent running, giving him pole for Race 1.

FIA F3 convert Dorian Boccolacci, early leader of Group B, will start the race in third alongside fellow Frenchman and Formula Renault rookie Gabriel Aubry.

Jehan Daruvala and Harrison Scott beat Robert Shwartzman and Nikita Troitskiy by seven and nine hundredths to take fifth and sixth respectively with the latter duo lining up behind them.

The top 10 will be completed by Bruno Baptista and?Alexey Korneev.

The grid of Race 2 will see the?unchanged top 3 of Defourny, Norris and Boccolacci.

Scott and Shwartzman both gain two positions compared to the first race’s grid as they are set to start ahead of Aubry and Daruvala as well as Troitskiy, Baptista and Hugo de Sadeleer.

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