Luke enjoys points scoring F2 debut in Baku

Rising star Luke Browning enjoyed a fine start to his Formula 2 career with a points-scoring debut on the streets of Baku.

The Williams Academy-backed racer had secured an eleventh-hour drive with the ART Grand Prix team for the final three meetings of the campaign and headed for Azerbaijan for an event that would largely be a step into the unknown – with no prior experience of the F2 or of the Baku street circuit.

Free practice on what was still a very green circuit provided Luke with eleven crucial laps to get his head around the circuit and he made the most of that track time to qualify in eleventh spot following a chaotic qualifying session that ultimately came down to a quick four minute blast after a red flag.

A strong start to the Sprint Race saw Luke make up ground into the top ten and at one stage, he found himself battling for position with Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the man who will replace Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes F1 team next season.

Luke would ultimately take the flag in eleventh spot ahead of championship leader Isack Hadjar, with his aim for the Feature Race being to try and fight his way forwards into the points.

That race could have ended in disaster for Luke after Kush Maini stalled his car on the grid, with Luke able to avoid the Invicta Racing machine, which was then collected by Olivier Goethe and Pepe Marti to bring out the red flag.

After a delay of half an hour, the race got back underway under the safety car, with Luke picking up damage when he was overtaken by Dennis Hauger and the Norwegian chopped across the front of his car – removing an end wing plate.

Luke was running in twelfth spot when he came in to make his mandatory pitstop and made solid progress after his stop to climb into the top ten, with the Briton running in seventh spot when the safety car was called out in the closing moments after an off for Formula 3 title rival Gabriele Mini.

It meant Luke picked up four points from the race to boost confidence as he now heads into a break before the next event in Qatar in late November at a circuit new to the calendar, meaning he will be on a more level playing field with the rest of the grid.