Doohan controls Formula 2 feature race in Hungary for first win of season

Jack Doohan claimed his first victory of the Formula 2 season by controlling the feature race in Hungary from start to finish.

He crossed the line 9.5 seconds ahead of Frederik Vesti for his first win since last year’s round at Spa-Francorchamps.

Vesti extended his championship lead over Theo Pourchaire, while Victor Martins took the final podium position in third.

Doohan had claimed his first pole position of the season with Martins joining him on the front row, just 0.052 seconds separating the Alpine juniors in qualifying. The two championship protagonists Vesti and Pourchaire lined up on the second row in hot conditions.

The pole-winner made an excellent start to maintain his lead, while there was a change directly behind. Vesti was on the outside of Martins as the two touched mid-corner, before the Mercedes junior inched ahead at turn one’s exit to claim second.

It was a frantic start in the lower pack with drivers jostling back-and-forth, including Juan Manuel Correa who gained five positions on the opening two laps to claim 10th.

Lap three saw the race’s only retirement as Clement Novalak, already out of the points, pulled off at turn four with an apparent technical problem. The race continued without a Safety Car interruption and Doohan maintained a lead of around one second over Vesti, who was edging away from Martins.

Zane Maloney became the first driver to pit on lap eight. Pourchaire was the first of the leading pack to come in six laps later. But the podium runners extended their opening stint and by lap 22, Doohan held a five-second lead.

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Vesti pitted first out of the top three, switching tyres on lap 23. He left the pit lane in fourth, a net third, just 1.7 seconds ahead of Pourchaire with Roman Stanek inheriting third, yet to pit.

ART reacted by pitting Martins the following lap, who exited just ahead of Vesti. But the Prema driver was quick to attack and regained the position at the exit of turn one.

This immediately put Martins, whose tyres were yet to reach optimal temperature, into a wheel-to-wheel battle with team mate Pourchaire. The Sauber junior took to the run-off at turn four to avoid a collision. This proved costly, as it allowed Isack Hadjar to reduce the deficit and overtake Pourchaire for net fourth that lap.

Doohan pitted on lap 25, along with Stanek, which put the front runners back into their previous positions. But now Pourchaire was starting to drop back. On lap 26, Ayumu Iwasa overtook him on the inside of turn two for fifth.

There was no contest up front, however, as Doohan continued his serene progress after his pit stop and led the race by eight seconds on lap 31.

Iwasa was providing most of the entertainment, as he gradually reduced his gap to Hadjar for fourth. The battle reached a conclusion on lap 35, as Iwasa lunged from deep to claim the position at turn one.

Further ahead, there was still optimism for Martins in the battle for second with the Alpine junior applying late pressure on Vesti. However, the Prema driver kept the gap around one second as Doohan crossed the line up ahead to claim victory.

Vesti now holds an 11 point advantage over Pourchaire in the championship, with Iwasa in third 10 points behind the Sauber junior. The victory has put Doohan up to fifth behind Martins in fourth, with eight races left in the season.

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Formula 2 Hungary race two results

Position	Car	Driver	Team
1	14	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi
2	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema
3	6	Victor Martins	ART
4	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS
5	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech
6	5	Theo Pourchaire	ART
7	1	Dennis Hauger	MP
8	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin
9	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort
10	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort
11	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP
12	8	Ollie Bearman	Prema
13	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS
14	20	Roman Staněk	Trident
15	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz
16	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin
17	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech
18	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz
19	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos
20	24	Kush Maini	Campos
21	15	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi
DNF	21	Clement Novalak	Trident

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