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Megan White

F2 Saudi Arabia: Vesti wins dramatic feature race after rivals spin out

The Prema driver lined up sixth, making up two places on the first 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 position ahead, before both rookies spun out moments apart around the midway mark, allowing the Mercedes junior to eventually take the lead once those who started on medium rubber pitted.

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.

Oliver Bearman, Prema Racing leads Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Vesti and Doohan were the first of the leading quartet to pit on lap six of 28, 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.

DAMS' Arthur Leclerc led those who were yet to pit, 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.

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 sixth position, ahead of Doohan, and eventually moved 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.

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.

F2 Saudi Arabia feature race result

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Points
1 Denmark Frederik Vesti Italy Prema Powerteam 28 -   25
2 Australia Jack Doohan Invicta Virtuosi Racing 28 3.9 3.900 18
3 India Jehan Daruvala Netherlands MP Motorsport 28 7.5 7.500 15
4 Japan Ayumu Iwasa France DAMS 28 11.3 11.300 12
5 Norway Dennis Hauger Netherlands MP Motorsport 28 11.7 11.700 10
6 Netherlands Richard Verschoor Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 28 14.0 14.000 8
7 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi Rodin Carlin 28 14.2 14.200 6
8 Monaco Arthur Leclerc France DAMS 28 17.0 17.000 4
9 France Isack Hadjar Hitech Pulse-Eight 28 21.6 21.600 2
10 United Kingdom Oliver Bearman Italy Prema Powerteam 28 23.9 23.900 1
11 Israel Roy Nissany PHM Racing by Charouz 28 28.8 28.800  
12 India Kush Maini Spain Campos Racing 28 29.7 29.700  
13 France Theo Pourchaire France ART Grand Prix 28 31.2 31.200  
14 Czech Republic Roman Staněk Italy Trident 28 32.0 32.000  
15 United States Jak Crawford Hitech Pulse-Eight 28 32.9 32.900  
16 France Clement Novalak Italy Trident 28 36.1 36.100  
17 Barbados Zane Maloney Rodin Carlin 28 37.0 37.000  
18 United States Juan Manuel Correa Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 28 40.3 40.300  
19 Switzerland Ralph Boschung Spain Campos Racing 28 47.0 47.000  
20 Belgium Amaury Cordeel Invicta Virtuosi Racing 28 1'31.4 1'31.400  
21 France Victor Martins France ART Grand Prix 16 12 laps    
22 United States Brad Benavides PHM Racing by Charouz 1 27 laps    
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