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Race report

F2 Saudi Arabia: Vesti takes victory as rivals spin out

Frederik Vesti cruised to his second-ever Formula 2 win in the Jeddah feature race, clinching victory after his rivals spun out.

Race winner Frederik Vesti, PREMA Racing

Race winner Frederik Vesti, PREMA Racing

Formula Motorsport Ltd

The Prema driver lined up sixth, making up two places on the two laps before closing on the leading trio of Ollie Bearman, Victor Martins and Jack Doohan.

He pitted alongside Doohan, emerging in front of the Virtuosi driver to secure third.

Vesti waited patiently while Bearman and Martins tussled for first before both rookies spun out moments apart around the midway mark, allowing the Mercedes junior to take the lead.

He held on to cross the line 3.9s clear of Doohan, who claimed his first podium of the season, with Jehan Daruvala taking his second third-place finish of the weekend for MP Motorsport.

A poor start for Martins saw Bearman take the lead off the line, with Doohan looking to claim second before settling into third behind the ART driver.

There was a virtual safety car on lap two after Brad Benavides and Amaury Cordeel made contact, the PHM driver’s race ended with suspension damage while Cordeel pitted with front wing damage.

Bearman had built a good gap out front when the VSC ended the following lap, with Martins, Doohan and Vesti close behind him.

Vesti and Doohan were the first of the leading quartet to pit on lap six, with Vesti emerging in front into 12th position.

Bearman, Martins and Daruvala pitted the following tour, with the Briton pipping the reigning Formula 3 champion to the pit exit for eighth place.

Arthur Leclerc led those who were yet to pit for DAMS, with Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) and Hitech rookie Isack Hadjar in second and third.

By lap 10, Martins had caught Bearman, taking the lead of those who had stopped off the road before handing the position back.

He was not behind for long, though, snatching sixth on the start-finish straight with the help of DRS as Bearman was forced wide out of Turn 2, allowing Vesti through into seventh as Doohan closed in from behind.

Race winner Frederik Vesti, PREMA Racing

Race winner Frederik Vesti, PREMA Racing

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

A chaotic lap 17 saw Bearman spin at Turn 22, dropping from eighth to 11th behind Ayumu Iwasa.

Moments later, Martins also spun at Turn 5, losing his engine and ending his race, prompting another VSC.

Vesti inherited the lead of those yet to stop from sixth position, ahead of Doohan, eventually moving into the lead on lap 24 as Leclerc, Hadjar and Trident’s Roman Stanek pitted.

Iwasa finished in fourth, with Dennis Hauger in fifth for MP Motorsport and Verschoor in sixth.

Fittipaldi took seventh, with Leclerc in eighth, Hadjar in ninth, and Bearman claiming the final points-paying position after his spin from what could have been a podium position.

2022 runner-up Theo Pourchaire, who was handed a five-place grid penalty after colliding with Bearman in Saturday’s sprint race, lined up eighth, but endured another difficult race to finish in 13th.

Saudi Arabia F2 feature race results:

Cla # Driver Team Gap
1 7 Denmark Frederik Vesti
Italy Prema Powerteam
2 14 Australia Jack Doohan
Invicta Virtuosi Racing 3.959
3 2 India Jehan Daruvala
Netherlands MP Motorsport 7.546
4 11 Japan Ayumu Iwasa
France DAMS 11.379
5 1 Norway Dennis Hauger
Netherlands MP Motorsport 11.712
6 22 Netherlands Richard Verschoor
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 14.014
7 4 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi
Rodin Carlin 14.220
8 12 Monaco Arthur Leclerc
France DAMS 17.012
9 10 France Isack Hadjar
Hitech Pulse-Eight 21.646
10 8 United Kingdom Oliver Bearman
Italy Prema Powerteam 23.910
11 16 Israel Roy Nissany
PHM Racing by Charouz 28.854
12 24 India Kush Maini
Spain Campos Racing 29.731
13 5 France Theo Pourchaire
France ART Grand Prix 31.238
14 20 Czech Republic Roman Staněk
Italy Trident 32.019
15 9 United States Jak Crawford
Hitech Pulse-Eight 32.973
16 21 France Clement Novalak
Italy Trident 36.131
17 3 Barbados Zane Maloney
Rodin Carlin 37.076
18 23 United States Juan Manuel Correa
Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 40.339
19 25 Switzerland Ralph Boschung
Spain Campos Racing 47.097
20 15 Belgium Amaury Cordeel
Invicta Virtuosi Racing 1'31.499
6 France Victor Martins
France ART Grand Prix
17 United States Brad Benavides
PHM Racing by Charouz

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