Pourchaire cuts Drugovich’s lead to 21 points with Hungaroring feature race win

Formula 2

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Theo Pourchaire took advantage of a rapid start and a quick pit stop by his team to win the Formula 2 feature race and cut Felipe Drugovich’s championship lead.

The ART driver moved up to second place at the start and then got ahead of Marcus Armstrong in the pits. That put him in the net lead of the race, and once the others had completed their pit stop he was never headed.

Enzo Fittipaldi finished second with pole-winner Ayumu Iwasa third. Drugovich could only manage a ninth place finish for two points, leaving his championship lead looking vulnerable as the series heads into the summer break.

When the lights went out, Iwasa was immediately beaten off the line by fellow front row starter Armstrong, who took the lead on the run down to the first corner. Pourchaire also gained a place over Iwasa to move into second.

As the field navigated the first sector relatively safely, Jack Doohan suddenly slowed and fell to the back of the pack with an apparent problem. Yesterday’s winner circulated for a couple of laps in the hopes of finding a solution to the problem, until he eventually had to pull into the pits to retire.

Iwasa stuck with Pourchaire and tried to pressure him for second, while, further back, Enzo Fittipaldi passed Frederick Vesti around the outside of turn two for fifth place. Iwasa pulled alongside the ART on the outside approaching turn two on lap seven, but Pourchaire successfully fended off the assault.

Eventually the leaders made their pit stop on the ninth lap, with leader Armstrong, Pourchaire and Iwasa all stopping together. ART released Pourchaire fast enough to see him get ahead of Armstrong and take the next lead of the race, with Iwasa also jumping the Hitech driver into second.

Having stayed out for two extra laps on very grained front tyres, Fittipaldi eventually pitted on lap 11 and rejoined the circuit behind Pourchaire and ahead of Iwasa in a net second place. Iwasa fought hard to get ahead of Fittipaldi, but soon had to absorb pressure from Felipe Drugovich behind.

Vesti took over the lead of the race on track, pushing his mediums as long as he could. Eventually, he pitted on lap 26, handing the lead to Liam Lawson who was still yet to stop. Three laps later, Lawson finally boxed, allowing Pourchaire to inherit the lead of the race for the first time with Fittipaldi and Iwasa behind.

The clouds over the Hungaroring started to sprinkle light drops of rain on the circuit, but not enough to cause serious difficulties for drivers. On fresh soft tyres, Vesti began to rise up the order, passing Drugovich and Armstrong to move into fourth and begin to reel in Iwasa ahead.

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Out front, Pourchaire kept his cool and checked off the remaining laps to take the chequered flag and his third win of the season. Fittipaldi appeared to suffer a loss of power on the final lap and dropped seconds to Pourchaire on the final lap, but held on to cross the line and take second place, with Iwasa completing the podium by keeping ahead of the rapid Vesti over the final laps.

Juri Vips finished fifth, passing team mate Armstrong in the later laps. Lawson claimed seventh ahead of Richard Verschoor, with Drugovich added just two points to his championship tally in ninth. Logan Sargeant rounded out the points in tenth place.

The result sees Drugovich’s lead in the championship halve from 44 points to 21 with just four rounds and eight races remaining.

Formula 2 Hungary race two results

Position Car Driver Team
1 10 Theo Pourchaire ART
2 22 Enzo Fittipaldi Charouz
3 17 Ayumu Iwasa DAMS
4 9 Frederik Vesti ART
5 8 Juri Vips Hitech
6 7 Marcus Armstrong Hitech
7 5 Liam Lawson Carlin
8 20 Richard Verschoor Trident
9 11 Felipe Drugovich MP
10 6 Logan Sargeant Carlin
11 2 Jehan Daruvala Prema
12 12 Clement Novalak MP
13 23 Cem Bolukbasi Charouz
14 24 David Beckmann Van Amersfoort
15 4 Marino Sato Virtuosi
16 16 Roy Nissany DAMS
17 21 Calan Williams Trident
18 25 Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort
19 1 Dennis Hauger Prema
DNF 14 Olli Caldwell Campos
DNF 15 Roberto Merhi Campos
DNF Jack Doohan Virtuosi

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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3 comments on “Pourchaire cuts Drugovich’s lead to 21 points with Hungaroring feature race win”

  1. I want to see a brazilian win the F2 title but if this happens this guy should also be stepping up the ladder to F1

  2. That was quite a bit interesting both in terms of racing and strategic gambles.

  3. Well if we can’t get a close battle for the F1 titles, we can at least look to the support series!

    Pourchaire basically has to win this years title if he wants to convince the brass at Sauber he’s ready for the F1 seat Zhou is currently occupying. It’ll take an extreme show of talent to overcome $30 worth of sponsorship.

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