Formula 2: Monaco race won by Felipe Drugovic

The main intrigue from Sunday’s Formula 2 race in Monaco was that Felipe Drugovic started from pole, leading the individual standings, and Theo Purscher started from second, occupying second place and trailing the Brazilian by 25 points. It was clear that they would be the main characters and lead a fundamental dispute for victory – and it happened.

On Saturday, the French driver ART (a student of the Sauber Racing Academy by the way) did not perform well and finished only sixth, but this still gave him a few points, while Drugovic had no luck at all, turning his race into a series of strange adventures, and eventually it all fell apart.

Overall, both Sundays had something to fight for: the Brazilian tried to recoup yesterday and at least remain the championship leader, ideally increasing his advantage, while Purscher was determined to fight for the win, especially because the track in Monaco can be conditionally considered his home, and the fervent support of the stands was assured for him.

When the signal for the start of the warm-up lap sounded, all the cars moved towards it except one – for some reason Liam Lawson’s Dallara, who had to start from 5th position, didn’t move. The marshals pushed the New Zealander’s car into the pit lane and he had to leave after the entire pack had passed.

Drugovich got off to a confident start and led the race, while Purscher had to change the track immediately so as not to miss Jack Duane, who started from third; Fourth was Juri Vips, while Dennis Hauger, yesterday’s race winner, surprisingly managed to outrun several cars at once and slide from 9th to 5th position.

Ayumu Iwasa also had a good start, ahead of Kalan Williams in the battle for 10th position.

On lap five, Drugovic was already nearly three seconds ahead and set the fastest laps of this stage of the race. Purscher also broke away from the rest of the pack, but so far he preferred to save rubber and did not take decisive action.

But behind them the situation looked more interesting: Duane was third, he was pressured by VIPs, their cars were only a few tenths of a second apart and the Est was closely followed by Hauger.

Iwasa and Logan Sargent were the first to decide to go to the mandatory pit stop, and as a result, both fell to the very back of the pack. Amaury Kordil also went to the pits, but stopped there and returned to the track after a fairly long break.

A few more drivers entered the pit lane to get SuperSoft tires, including Hauger, who returned to the track in 15th position. But the leaders were in no rush to change tyres, Drugovic was in the lead and although his lead was reduced to around two and a half seconds, he continued to pick up the pace and remain the author of the fastest lap. However, his result was soon blocked by Hauger, who was riding on fresher tires.

Meanwhile, it was announced that the stewards were punishing Roy Nissany with a free pass in the pit lane for an offense committed during the pit stop. And soon the Israeli racer left the race in general.

After 15 laps, Purscher managed to gradually narrow the gap on Drugovic to one and a half seconds, with both of them about four seconds ahead of Duane in third.

Felipe radioed his MP Motorsport team that the tires were already starting to fail, but he didn’t want to go into the pits.

On lap 18 of the race, the safety car appeared on track when Amaury Kordil’s car stopped on the start-finish straight. The leaders took advantage of this situation and went straight into the pits. And the fuss started: First, there was a malfunction at Drugovich’s pit stop and he was in danger of losing the lead. But the ART mechanics servicing Purcher’s car also weren’t working in the best way, and only this allowed the Brazilian to keep the lead.

They came back to the track almost simultaneously, but on leaving the pit lane they had to stop as the marshals rolled up Cordil’s stalled car at that moment.

At around the same time, the Virtuosi Racing team was brought to the pit stop to change the tires on Duane’s car, so Vips managed to stay ahead of the Australian and climb to third position.

On lap 22 a restart was given, Drugovich did everything right, preventing Purscher from taking the lead, Vips was behind the Frenchman, but Duane, trying to attack the Est, made an error braking for Turn 1 and only the rubber damaged in vain.

Purscher was more than combative and tried to increase the pressure on the leader, but active actions had to be stopped immediately as the safety car returned to the track. The reason for this this time was Clement Novalak’s car, which stopped on the track just after the Loews hairpins. This happened after contact with Liam Lawson, who broke forward too aggressively, simply pushing the opponent into the striker.

Of course, the stewards immediately became interested in this episode.

The French MP Motorsport driver’s car was quickly evacuated and the fight resumed on lap 25. Drugovic again managed to make a good restart, but Purscher stayed close behind Brazilian Dallara, who got no further than 0.5-0. 0.7 seconds. But almost immediately behind these two duelists, Yuuri Vips also held on and watched with interest what was happening in front of them.

Pursher made no apparent attack attempts, probably waiting for Drugovich to resist the pressure and make a mistake, but the champions leader continued to act fairly calmly and didn’t give his opponent a chance.

It seemed that his car’s tires were slightly more worn than Theo, who clearly managed to brake later, and on some parts of the track the interval between them had been reduced to three tenths. Yet this was not enough for an attack. So they kept running around the track one after the other, keeping the intrigue of the race at the highest level.

Purscher saw that the opponent’s tires were worn and tried to keep the pace as high as possible to create more difficulties for Drugovic, but he acted flawlessly. At the same time, at the exit of the Loews hairpin, Theo literally rested his front wing against the diffuser of the leader’s car, but Felipe managed to get away a bit in the tunnel and the chicanes that followed.

Five laps before the finish, Lawson slowed sharply and returned to the pits – another retirement.

On lap 39, Jehan Daruwala managed to overtake Logan Sargent exiting the chicane at turns 10-11, although the maneuver was very risky. The Indian racer immediately ran after Hauger’s car, hoping to build on the success.

With only two laps to go, Purscher appeared to be running low and allowed Drugovic to extend the lead, quickly taking the Brazilian to victory. And the fact that Kalan Williams and Ayumu Iwasa didn’t share the track at the famous Loews hairpin on the last lap, and their stalled cars blocked half way, didn’t affect it.

The individual standings leader has already won the fourth race this season, but Theo Purscher of course confirmed that he is a worthy opponent and the fundamental battle for championship victory will continue on all other circuits. The Frenchman did everything he could, fought until the end, but had to make do with second place – after the finish it was clear that he was just exhausted.

After the fifth leg of the youth series, Drugovic brought his lead over Pursher to 32 points, but there are still a lot of races to go, so the picture in the championship will inevitably change – overall it will be interesting.

Juri Vips finished third, moving him up to fifth in the individual standings. But the riders who occupy from third to fifth place are only four points apart, so it is enough for Daruvala for example (he is still third in the championship) to perform unsuccessfully, and the Estonian will have better luck then Marcus Armstrong (4th position), and he immediately moves up two places.

Race results