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Megan White

F2 Hungary: Doohan flawless to take maiden 2023 win

The Virtuosi driver led from pole for the duration, breaking DRS to Frederik Vesti (Prema) by lap seven before building a five-second lead before Vesti pitted.

Doohan followed suit two laps later and emerged in front, eventually building a nine-second lead for his first win since Belgium last year.

It comes after a struggle so far in 2023, his second F2 season, having only taken two podiums after a strong showing in his rookie year.

Championship leader Vesti finished second to extend his lead to 11 points, fending off a late challenge from Victor Martins (ART), who took his seventh podium amid a stunning rookie season.

There was action from the off as Vesti and Martins tussled at Turn 1, the more experienced driver emerging ahead behind Doohan.

The yellow flags were waved briefly on lap three as Clement Novalak came to a stop on track at Turn 4 in his Trident-run car, but action was not disrupted.

Doohan had broken DRS to Vesti by lap seven as the pitstops started behind, with Zane Maloney the first to swap to the medium tyres for Rodin Carlin.

Ayumu Iwasa, who ran the alternate strategy for DAMS, was quicker than the leaders by this point, running 0.039s quicker than Doohan on lap eight.

Vesti was closing on Doohan by lap 10, with the gap at 0.7s, but it was back up to 1.2s two laps later as Isack Hadjar (Hitech) became the first of the top five to stop.

Ayumu Iwasa, Dams, leads Kush Maini, Campos Racing (Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images)

Theo Pourchaire, running fourth for ART, stopped on lap 13, hoping for a late podium charge, but was stuck behind Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel after emerging in 13th, costing him valuable time.

Vesti’s engineers told him he “probably needs to box” on lap 17, but it was five more laps before he finally switched to the medium compound, emerging in fourth, with Martins following suit next time around.

Doohan had stayed out while his rivals emerged, with Martins then embroiled in a fight with his team-mate. Pourchaire ran wide at Turn 2, collecting rubber on his fresh tyres and losing time to Martins who powered ahead, while Pourchaire fell behind Hadjar into sixth.

Doohan finally stopped on lap 24, retaining his lead ahead of Vesti, with Martins in third.

Iwasa soon made it past Pourchaire, having taken an early stop for the soft tyres as degradation was lower than expected, before passing Hadjar on lap 35 up the inside of Turn 1 to secure fourth.

Hadjar finished fifth, with Pourchaire in sixth in a blow to his title fight with Vesti.

Dennis Hauger was seventh for MP Motorsport, with Enzo Fittipaldi (Hitech) eighth, VAR driver Juan Manuel Correa in ninth and team-mate Richard Verschoor rounding off the top 10.

F2 returns next weekend in Belgium with two rounds remaining.

F2 Hungary - Feature race results

 
 
     
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1 Australia J. Doohan Jack Doohan Invicta Virtuosi Racing 14 37 57'52.434   168.010   25   3
2 Denmark F. Vesti Frederik Vesti Prema Powerteam 7 37 +9.110 9.110 167.570   18    
3 France V. Martins Victor Martins ART Grand Prix 6 37 +9.850 0.740 167.535   15    
4 Japan A. Iwasa Ayumu Iwasa DAMS 11 37 +26.167 16.317 166.753   12    
5 France I. Hadjar Isack Hadjar Hitech Pulse-Eight 10 37 +27.407 1.240 166.694   10    
6 France T. Pourchaire Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix 5 37 +29.529 2.122 166.593   8    
7 Norway D. Hauger Dennis Hauger MP Motorsport 1 37 +30.512 0.983 166.547   6    
8 Brazil E. Fittipaldi Enzo Fittipaldi Rodin Carlin 4 37 +30.937 0.425 166.526   4    
9 United States J. Correa Juan Manuel Correa Van Amersfoort Racing 23 37 +39.401 8.464 166.125   2    
10 Netherlands R. Verschoor Richard Verschoor Van Amersfoort Racing 22 37 +39.979 0.578 166.098   1    
11 India J. Daruvala Jehan Daruvala MP Motorsport 2 37 +41.025 1.046 166.048        
12 United Kingdom O. Bearman Oliver Bearman Prema Powerteam 8 37 +41.607 0.582 166.021        
13 Monaco A. Leclerc Arthur Leclerc DAMS 12 37 +42.064 0.457 165.999        
14 Czech Republic R. Staněk Roman Staněk Trident 20 37 +42.944 0.880 165.958        
15 Israel R. Nissany Roy Nissany PHM Racing by Charouz 16 37 +56.569 13.625 165.317        
16 Barbados Z. Maloney Zane Maloney Rodin Carlin 3 37 +1'00.999 4.430 165.110        
17 United States J. Crawford Jak Crawford Hitech Pulse-Eight 9 37 +1'02.846 1.847 165.023        
18 United States B. Benavides Brad Benavides PHM Racing by Charouz 17 37 +1'08.612 5.766 164.755        
19 Switzerland R. Boschung Ralph Boschung Campos Racing 25 37 +1'14.010 5.398 164.504        
20 India K. Maini Kush Maini Campos Racing 24 37 +1'16.994 2.984 164.365        
21 Belgium A. Cordeel Amaury Cordeel Invicta Virtuosi Racing 15 36 +1 Lap 1 Lap 163.240        
dnf France C. Novalak Clement Novalak Trident 21 2 35 laps         Retirement  
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