Richard Verschoor came through 11th to win feature FIA F2 race in Austria, as Zak O’Sullivan took the mantle in F3.

F2:

It was a clean start for Frederik Vesti in the Prema car from the front row in dry feature race to take the lead from ART Grand Prix’s Theo Pourchaire and his teammate Victor Martins, who dropped to third after starting from pole.

Campos Racing’s Kush Maini steadied in fourth from Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan, MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala, Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi, Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel, Van Amersfoort’s Richard Verschoor and MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger in the Top 10.

As Vesti led the way, there was a battle for third as Maini passed Martins at Turn 3 but Doohan used DRS to pass both at Turn 4 to jump to third from Maini and Martins. Behind them, Fittipaldi on the soft tyre started to hurry Daruvala on the super soft.

Cordeel was passed by Verschoor for eighth as Hauger pressed on well but in the lead-up to Turn 3, the Norwegian was put on the grass which cost him time and places to both the DAMS drivers Ayumu Iwasa and Arthur Leclerc in the next couple of corners.

In fact, Iwasa even cleared Cordeel into ninth, as pit stop kick-started where Fittipaldi took the lead on the alternative strategy from Verschoor and Iwasa. Post the pit stops, net race lead Vesti stood at ninth from Pourchaire and Doohan in the Top 3.

There was an incident noted for Hauger for crossing the white line when entering the pits. He was handed a 5s time penalty with Maini too getting one for track limits. The net lead fight, meanwhile, saw Doohan pounce on Pourchaire for track position.

There was a Virtual Safety Car deployed initially for Leclerc’s lose wheel post his pit stop, but it was converted into a full safety car. It was Vesti ahead of Doohan and Pourchaire, Martins and Verschoor in the Top 5 from Iwasa and Carlin’s Zane Maloney.

PHM Charouz’s Roy Nissany was eighth with teammate Brad Benavides in 10th behind Fittipladi. The likes of Daruvala, Maini, Hauger, Trident’s Clement Novalak, Campos’ Ralph Boschung and Cordeel went for a second stop under the safety car.

The re-start saw Vesti and Doohan hold on but Verschoor gained couple of places to be third from Iwasa with Pourchaire in fifth from Martins, Bearman, Fittipaldi, Maloney and Daruvala in the Top 10 until the VSC period to clear Maini’s car.

The Indian had a contact with Hauger which left Maini with a puncture. The re-start saw Verschoor and Iwasa pounce on Vesti and Doohan to pass them both to be 1-2. The Dutchman fended off the Japanese to win the feature F2 race in Austria.

Vesti had to be content with third from Doohan as Bearman was fifth from Fittipaldi, Pourchaire, Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford, Martins and Daruvala in the Top 10.

 

 

F3:

Grégoire Saucy held onto pole from lights out while Bortoleto had to fend off pressure from Paul Aron to keep hold of third. Further back, Gabriele Minì had slight contact at with Luke Browning at Turn 4. The #15 Hitech Pulse-Eight driver was sent across the gravel and was left out of the race. It prompted a Safety Car on Lap 2.

Racing got back underway entering Lap 5 with Saucy able to build up a small gap to Dino Beganovic behind him. The ART driver couldn’t escape the one-second DRS window though, and the Swede was through for P1 on Lap 7 under braking at Turn 4. Like Saucy though, without DRS, he was unable to break away and the top five were separated by under two seconds. Aron made a late dive down the inside of Bortoleto at Turn 3 to take third position on Lap 10.

One lap later and he tried the same on Saucy but had no room to make it stick. The pair made the slightest of contact and it resulted in a puncture for the Swiss, tumbling down the order after a necessary pit stop. Aron dropped behind Bortoleto and O’Sullivan to fourth with front wing damage.

In the fight for the lead, Bortoleto was able to slipstream his way past Beganovic for P1 into Turn 4 on Lap 13, while Aron was finally forced to pit for a new front wing. Teammate O’Sullivan was the next to make a DRS pass, demoting Beganovic to third.

The Briton wasn’t finished, diving down the inside of Bortoleto to take the lead. Franco Colapinto got himself involved in the podium fight with a sweep all the way around the outside of Beganovic to take third in his MP Motorsport car. Further back, Caio Collet and Sebastián Montoya made progress up the top 10, passing Kaylen Frederick to take fifth and sixth places.

Mari Boya was the next through on the ART driver, taking seventh position on the way up to Turn 3 with DRS on Lap 17. The American tried to fight it back and the two made contact at Turn 5. It left both with front wing damage and the pair were in for repairs at the end of the lap.

Collet continued his push up the top 10, passing Beganovic with a late dive into Turn 3. Montoya followed through for P5 with a brave move around the outside of the Swede at Turn 7, even after dipping two wheels into the gravel before corner entry. The Colombian wasn’t done there, as he overtook Collet for fourth on Lap 23, diving to the inside at Turn 4 to pass the Van Amersfoort driver.

Onto the final lap and the top five were covered by just two seconds. O’Sullivan held on for his first Feature Race win ahead of Bortoleto, but there was last lap drama in the battle for the final podium spot. Montoya was side-by-side with Colapinto, but the pair made contact at Turn 6. It allowed Collet to sneak through for the final podium place ahead of the Argentinian.

Beganovic was fifth ahead of Jonny Edgar, Christian Mansell, Hugh Barter and Sophia Floersch, who captured PHM Racing by Charouz’s first points in FIA Formula 3 from 20th on the grid. Montoya fell to 10th in the end after his final lap clash with Colapinto.

 

Here’s how sprint F2, F3 races panned out in Austria

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