Fernando Barrichello takes authoritative maiden win at Red Bull Ring

15.09.2024

It was Fernando Barrichello's moment this morning at the Red Bull Ring. The Brazilian rookie of Motopark won impressively Race 2, in conditions as wet as yesterday, at least in the first part of the race.   

Barrichello’s performance was outstanding and faultless, stealing the lead from Michael Shin after a few laps and controlling the events until the finish line. ‘Fefo’ was clearly happy on the podium: “At last! It’s been a season of learning so far, and it’s not easy coming straight from F.4, but the great work we are doing with the whole team is starting to pay off. I want to sincerely thank everybody at Motopark for their excellent work, and my family and everybody in Brazil for their support.”  

The Brazilian was is in pole in the reversed grid, ahead of Shin, Simonazzi, Révész, Pearson, Benavides and Garfias, but the start was given behind safety-car for two laps.

When the real racing started, Shin took the lead in turn 2 but Barrichello resisted perfectly the attacks of Simonazzi and kept second. After six laps, Shin had a 1.3-second advantage on Barrichello, who had a similar gap on Simonazzi. Followed Révész, Benavides, Pearson and Garfias, with the spray impeding overtaking.

As the race evolved and the rain decreased, Barrichello was able to close the gap on Shin and he passed him in lap 9, showing great authority up to the flag. Behind him, the fight was fierce between Shin and Simonazzi who exchanged positions a couple of times before the Korean emerged to take second. Benavides, Garfias and Pearson completed the top-7.