Miyata shows fighting spirit to score points at Monza
Round 10 – Monza – Report
Hitech returned to FIA Formula 2 Championship action at Monza following the summer break, with Ritomo Miyata recovering ground in the Feature Race to secure a strong P5 finish and valuable championship points.
Following a challenging start to the weekend, Ritomo showed strong pace throughout the Feature Race, while Colton Herta faced a particularly demanding schedule after combining his F2 commitments with FP1 running for Cadillac F1 Team in Formula 1.
Qualifying
Practice proved challenging, with Colton running wide over the kerb at the second Lesmo and making contact with the barriers. The incident brought his session to an early end, but he was able to return for Qualifying.
Ritomo qualified P8, while Colton took P20 ahead of the weekend’s two races.
Sprint Race
Ritomo started P3 on the reverse grid for the 21-lap Sprint Race, with Colton lining up where he qualified.
Ritomo made a clean getaway and held position through the first corner before going defensive into the Roggia chicane, dropping to P6. Tsolov and Leon then moved ahead to leave him P8.
After resisting pressure from Dunne on Lap 4, Ritomo fought back to P7. Contact from Camara behind clipped the rear of the Hitech, but Ritomo kept the car pointing in the right direction and cleared Tsolov in the process.
Colton made progress from P20, moving up to P18 by Lap 8 after passing Bilinski. He later reached P16, with two cars dropping out ahead aiding his progress.
A Safety Car on Lap 17 set up a tense finish, with racing resuming at the end of Lap 19.
Ritomo finished P9, while Colton took P15 after gaining five positions.
Feature Race
Ritomo started the 30-lap Feature Race from P6, with Colton lining up P20. Hitech split its strategy, with Ritomo starting on the supersoft and Colton on the soft.
Ritomo lost a place to Leon early on before responding immediately, passing Stenshorne around the outside to reclaim P6.
Colton gained two places to move to P18 before contact with Montoya forced him wide and caused front-wing damage. He pitted for a replacement wing and another set of soft tyres, with the incident coming too early to switch the planned strategy. Colton later ran wide at the Parabolica, bringing his race to an early end.
A Safety Car period ended on Lap 16, with Ritomo running P7 for the restart. He quickly resumed his charge, closing in on Inthraphuvasak and setting a succession of fastest laps before making the move stick on Lap 19 to regain P6.
Ritomo continued to set the pace on Lap 20, posting another fastest lap as he targeted the cars ahead while defending from Tsolov behind. His attacking drive continued into the closing stages, with Ritomo finally passing Dunne on Lap 29 to move up to P5.
Ritomo brought the car home in P5, completing a determined recovery drive to secure 10 valuable championship points.
Jan Sumann, Hitech's F2 Head of Race Engineering:
“Monza was a challenging weekend, but there are positives to take. Ritomo showed strong pace in the Feature Race and drove a determined race to recover positions and score valuable championship points.”
Jan continued:
“Colton’s Feature Race was already compromised by the early contact with Montoya, before his retirement at Parabolica, but there were still positive signs from his progress in the Sprint.
“We’ll analyse the weekend and focus on Madrid. With four rounds remaining, there are still plenty of opportunities ahead.”
The Monza weekend marks the beginning of the final stages of the 2026 FIA Formula 2 Championship, with four rounds now remaining.
Hitech will now look ahead to Round 11 at the Madring, taking place from 11–13 September.
