In a very nervous race with 3 safety cars, the Prema driver won in front of his teammate, with both drivers very careful not to make mistakes, and followed past the chequered flag by Crawford, Duerksen and Fornaroli

The start was postponed by 2 minutes because the Chinese driver Han Cenyu (VAR) went off on the warm-up lap. When they finally got going, Beganovic started well from pole, with Minì behind and then Bearman. Minì immediately attempted an attack on Beganovic, but that left him open to an attack from Bearman. The first three positions did not change and behind them were Crawford, Smal and Edgar.

Smal, Gnos and Hamda Al Quabaisi went off together, triggering another safety car. Edgar also suffered damage to his car and had to call in to the pits for repair. Montoya, meanwhile, was having a good race and had risen to fifth.

The restart saw Beganovic, Minì, Bearman, Crawford, Montoya, Duerksen and Fornaroli all cleanly through the first corner, but then Bearman missed the entrance to the Acqua Minerale, letting Crawford, Montoya, Duerksen, Fornaroli, Pizzi and Rosso through, though he was able to repass Rosso quite quickly.

With 13’30 left on the clock, the safety car was needed again after Patterson tried to overtake Ogaard and the two collided and were forced to retire.

Beganovic had a good restart while Crawford remained attached to Minì. It went wrong for Pizzi though, as he went off the track and retired, so the Safety Car was deployed once again.

At the next restart, Beganovic, Minì, Crawford, Montoya, Duerksen, Fornaroli, Rosso and Bearman stayed in order, while Delli Guanti made an excellent overtake on Bortoleto. Sebastian Montoya was the next to go off the track after touching wheels with Duerksen, and thus the Safety Car returned to take charged of a very nervous race.

The Safety Car pulled in right at the end of the last lap leaving the drivers to make a final sprint for the line. Beganovic’s win was never really in question, with Minì second and closing on the title, with Crawford, Duerksen, Fornaroli and Bearman taking the next places.

“It was a difficult race with long straights and slipstreaming and restarts behind the safety car and no mistakes were allowed. I’m happy, the car was excellent and for race 3, from second position on the grid, I have a good chance of winning,” Beganovic commented after the race.