F2 Austria: Slick gamble gives Verschoor maiden feature race win

The Trident driver started the race in eighth as the highest on the grid to use slick tyres, with the top seven taking the wet compound.

But a rapidly drying track saw the top seven plummet down the order and the Dutch driver charged from eighth into the lead in just four corners on lap six. 

He then flew off into the distance, building a huge lead to cross the line 10.7s ahead of Roberto Merhi, who was demoted to fifth after a track limits penalty. 

Jehan Daruvala, who was running second until he was passed by Merhi on the penultimate lap, inherited second, having started 11th. Logan Sargeant was promoted to third, having crossed the line in fourth.  

Hitech’s Juri Vips passed Frederik Vesti for the lead off the line, with the polesitter struggling to get away. 

Ayumu Iwasa moved into second, before Vesti reclaimed second, with Jack Doohan up two places into fourth and Theo Pourchaire up to sixth. 

Sargeant took fourth into Turn 10 from Doohan, while further back Cem Bolukbasi and Liam Lawson made contact, damaging the former’s front wing. 

The safety car was deployed on lap 2 after Marcus Armstrong and Daruvala made contact, spinning the New Zealander and ending his race at Turn 1. 

Pourchaire passed Doohan when racing resumed a few laps later, with Vesti also getting a good start. 

Chaos ensued on lap six, when those running on wets saw their tyres drop off a cliff and plummet down the order. Drugovich suffered a problem and fell to 19th, while Doohan and Pourchaire were 18th and 16th respectively. 

Verschoor seized the opportunity and cut through those ahead, using his dry tyre advantage to sweep past the seven cars ahead in just four corners to take the lead as they tried to find wet spots to keep their tyres alive and ran wide at Turn 3. 

Daruvala followed him through, having followed the same strategy. 

Most of those who had started on wets pitted on lap seven, with Verschoor and Daruvala running ahead of Iwasa and Sargeant. 

Sargeant then made it past the DAMS driver at Turn 1 on lap nine, with teammate Calan Williams getting past Vips further back. 

Verschoor was five seconds ahead by lap 11, with Daruvala pitting two laps later, followed by Merhi, Dennis Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi. 

Iwasa and Vesti traded ninth place, with the Dane emerging ahead while Sargeant took fourth. 

Several track limits penalties came late in the race, with Doohan first to be hit with a five-second penalty. He was then handed a 10s penalty, with Vesti also penalised. 

Sargeant and Fittipaldi continued to battle into the late stages, while further ahead, Verschoor built up a seven second lead by lap 33. 

Merhi took second on the penultimate lap, but was relegated by his track limits penalty and finished fifth, while Lawson and Vesti were then hit with 10 second penalties. 

Fittipaldi took fourth, with Hauger and VAR’s Jake Hughes in sixth and seventh respectively. Olli Caldwell took eighth for his first points finish of the season, with Iwasa and Vips rounding off the top 10. 

Drugovich only managed 13th after his earlier problem, with Pourchaire and Vesti in 14th and 15th.  

F2 Austria - Feature race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time
1	20	Richard Verschoor	Trident
2	2	Jehan Daruvala	Prema Powerteam	13.7
3	6	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	14.1
4	22	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	14.6
5	15	Roberto Merhi	Campos Racing	15.7
6	1	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	20.1
7	24	Jake Hughes	Van Amersfoort Racing	24.2
8	14	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing	26.2
9	17	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	27.2
10	8	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	27.9
11	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	28.5
12	5	Liam Lawson	Carlin	30.0
13	11	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	33.1
14	10	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	33.9
15	9	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	40.8
16	21	Calan Williams	Trident	43.0
17	4	Marino Sato	UNI-Virtuosi	46.1
18	12	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	1'12.7
19	25	Amaury Cordeel	Van Amersfoort Racing	1 lap
20	3	Jack Doohan	UNI-Virtuosi	1 lap
	23	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz Racing System	37 laps
	7	Marcus Armstrong	HitechGP	40 laps
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