Diego De la Torre confirmed himself as the hero of the day, taking a second win at Monza after an epic battle with his teammate at Motopark Rui-heng Yeh and Nicolò Maccagnani (BVM Racing), who took his maiden podium and the Rookie win in his first weekend in the series.
Like in Race 1, De la Torre demonstrated speed and assertiveness and his duel with championship leader Yeh was fair but without concessions. The gap in the standings is 59 points, with the Mexican reducing it by 26 points today. “It’s fantastic to win again”, said De la Torre, “Two wins at Monza, I can’t believe it. It was a real fight, but a great race.”
Yeh is in pole ahead of Koolen, but the Dutch stalls at the start, like Castillo at the back of th grid. It’s Yh taking the lead ahead of Maccagnani, Famularo, Herrera, De la Torre, Famularo and Ferrazzano, but soon De la Torre takes third from Herrera and Dobrzanski seventh from Koller, while Carrasqudo goes very wide in the grass at Lesmo.
The due between Maccagnani and Yeh is fierce, as they exchange first position a couple of times and they are joined in the fight by de la Torre and Herrera, going four abreast into the first chicane at the beginning of lap 6, which sees Herrera spinning at Lesmo.
The safety car is out to rescue the BVM car, with De la Torre leading ahead of Yeh, Maccagnani and Famularo. At restart, in lap 10, De la Torre, Yeh and Maccagnani continue their fight, while Koolen and Dobrzanski go straight and Famularo has to stop along the track, with some technical issue.
At the top, De la torre and Yeh exchange first position a couple of times, but once the Mexican retakes the lead, he seems able to keep control, despite the desperate attacks of Yeh, including a move in the last lap in the back straight using the grass.
In the meantime, Ferrazzano has stolen third from Maccagnani but the fairy tale of the Belgian ends in the penultimate lap, when a brake issue sends him wide in the sand at Lesmo. Maccagnani takes the last spot on the podium, with Castillo fourth (his best result so far), ahead of Carrasquedo and Dobrzanski.