Ayumu Iwasa enjoyed a “positive moment” for himself and his team as he took his first win in the FIA Formula 2 Championship at the Circuit Paul Ricard in a commanding fashion.
After showing flashes of his pace throughout this season, the rookie driver was finally able to stand on the top step of the podium with a dominant performance.
During the post-Feature Race press conference, the DAMS driver gave an insight into the journey that led to this maiden F2 victory:
“I didn’t have good speed in the pre-season test, but we worked so hard, and improved a lot in the general set-up, and also my driving as well, because my driving was quite far away, sometimes I made a lot of mistakes.
“I tried to improve on my side and also the team was working to improve the car, and finally we could perform well in a race weekend.
“I think this is a really positive moment for this season.”
Everything seemed to come together for the Red Bull Junior as he got temperature into the tyres on the opening lap, and made a move around the outside of Jack Doohan at the Nord Chicane without the help of DRS.
From there on, the Japanese driver never looked like losing the lead, building a gap throughout the race and staying out in front during the pit stops.
While the drivers behind competed for the podium positions, Iwasa stretched out his gap, eventually finishing over eight seconds in front of runner-up Théo Pourchaire.
Ayumu will hope to repeat that form next weekend, when Formula 2 heads to the Hungaroring; a track where he has raced well in the past:
“The Hungaroring is good for me… I like a really technical track, and in F3 I had good speed and won the race but I finished P2… so I want to get to win properly this year.”
Image Credit: Red Bull Media House
