After a longer-than-anticipated break from racing, with the time to refine and reset, the MP Motorsport team returned for Round 2 in the United States of America, in the sunny state of Florida, for Formula 2’s first-ever time racing in North America, as the teams prepared for their debut on the temporary street circuit around Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, one of two replacements for the cancelled Grand Prix meetings in the Middle East.
With the late addition of Miami to the calendar, the track was unfamiliar territory for the drivers, but after a good run in Melbourne, Oliver Goethe and Gabriele Minì both sat in the top ten of the championship, with the team sitting in P4 coming into the weekend.
Free Practice started on a sunny afternoon, with the drivers eager to get on track. The session started well with Oliver and Gabriele showing good pace on the track on the medium tyre, maintaining positions within the top 10.
Oliver produced a fastest lap of 1:40.590, which put him fifth fastest of the practice session.
Meanwhile, Gabriele set a fastest of 1:40.712, with a solid P10. Both drivers had good pace, which showed the room for improvement for qualifying later in the day.
Free Practice Results:
Improving upon free practice, the qualifying session saw significant improvements for Oliver and Gabriele. In the first half of the qualifying session, Oliver showed promise in the second and third sectors, performing well and holding his own in the tricky low-speed sectors.
On their second stint on super soft, both drivers were only able to display their performance in two laps, both of which pushed and performed particularly well.
Gabriele put in a solid 1:40.111 on lap 13 for a P5 qualifying finish, and Oliver a 1:40.216 on the same lap for P8.
Overall, with the good pace and room to push, the drivers showed promise for double points and were in a good position to challenge for podium positions in the races.
Qualifying Results:
With solid starting positions of P3 for Oliver and P6 for Gabriele, both drivers were starting the sprint in good, promising points and podium potential.
Goethe, after a poor launch and conflict and battles on the opening lap, fell to P7. Unfortunately, he struggled to keep control of the car in the opening laps, with a lack of grip and wheel spin. Eventually, that struggle with the car and conditions impacted his performance, and by lap 4, Oliver was down to P11.
Minì was particularly strong in sectors one and three throughout the race. With a well-fought battle for his position on lap 5, he showed good strength and defence, holding on to his P6 starting position, which he unfortunately lost in the closing half of the race, and fell to P7.
Unfortunately, on lap 7, Oliver fell to P12. Although, as the race progressed, he found more grip, producing a well-executed overtake on lap 8 on the inside of turn 6, where he regained his P11 position, which he eventually finished with.
Although the results were not as intended, Oliver and Gabriele’s pace and strength on track with their defence and attacks showed potential for good points to be scored in the final race of the weekend.
Sprint Race Results:
Feature Race
The team came into the race confident in the car, as Sunday started on a wet track with no rain expected, with Gabriele starting in P4 and Oliver in P7 due to outstanding penalties on Dunne from the previous race in Melbourne. The race had a standing start, and on the opening lap, Oliver propelled himself to sixth, while Gabriele fell back to P5. As a result of a crash during the opening lap, a safety car came out.
Unfortunately, Oliver went into the barriers on lap 4 at the end of the safety car. Sadly, his rear suspension was damaged, and as a result, he was forced to retire. He controlled the car well, considering the slippery track, and came to a safe stop out of the way of other drivers on the track.
Minì pitted under a later safety car, coming out in P7, he dropped down to P8 before regaining his P4 position once the cars that had not had their compulsory pitstops pitted. In a great overtake with 13 minutes left, Minì propelled himself to P3.
Gabriele raced with a calm head and strategically avoided the bulk of the aggressive battle in front of him between P1 and P2, which worked out to his advantage, as he had preserved his tyres enough to push in the final lap.
Within the final minute of the race, there was a three-way battle between the top three, where the race leader ran wide - promoting Gabriele to P2. Then, after a tight battle on the closing lap, Gabriele was able to overtake the race leader, snatching up the lead and finishing the race in first place.
Feature Race Results:
MP Motorsport had an incredible weekend, with Gabriele Minì producing a phenomenal drive in the Feature Race, going from P4 to P1. Gabriele kept a level head, protecting his tyres while his opponents destroyed theirs in a heated battle for first. This resulted in Gabriele snatching up the lead at the end, and with that win, P2 in the overall championship.
Both drivers saw improvement as the weekend progressed, with both Oliver and Gabriele performing well in qualifying and their race pace improving significantly.
MP Motorsport leaves Miami with a driver win under their belt and P3 in the teams' championship. With a great second race of the weekend, there is high energy and promise for the upcoming race in Montreal, Canada, later in the month!
Driver Standings After Round 2:
Team Standings After Round 2:
