In Sunday’s Formula 2 race, which is considered the highlight of the weekend, MP Motorsport driver Felipe Drugovic started from pole position. In yesterday’s sprint, he finished ahead of his closest title rival Theo Purcher, and today the Frenchman started the race in only 8th overall, which initially reduced his chances of a high result.
The whole top six looked pretty interesting as Enzo Fittipaldi had made it to the front row for the first time and obviously wanted to make the most of his second position, but just behind him was Logan Sargent, who was trying to make up for yesterday’s setback, and Jack Doohan climbed to the podium on Saturday, hoping to build on this success.
And from the third row started David Beckman and Liam Lawson, yesterday’s race winner. Each of them would solve their problems, which promised a bright fight on the track.
Drugovich started confidently and immediately began to move away from his pursuers, but Duane took second, ahead of Fittipaldi, before the first corner. On the first lap at the end of Kemmel’s straight, Enzo was unable to fend off Beckmann’s attack and fell back to fourth. At the same time, Lawson was already starting to push him.
At the start of the third lap Purscher’s car suddenly lost speed, he missed the whole pack and slowly returned to the pits. It seems the race was over for him and the hopes of competing for the title have become even more elusive. News of the main rival’s retirement must have given Drugovich some reassurance, so the Brazilian has adjusted the race’s tactics.
In the fifth round there was an interesting duel between Lawson and Fittipaldi. The New Zealander was ahead of Enzo, but he didn’t give up, counterattacked in a straight line, there was contact between the cars and there was a risk that both would fly off the track, but nothing happened. At the same time, Liam still held the 4th position won.
On the 8th lap, the first pit stops started, but only Fittipaldi of the leading group drivers entered the pits and finished 14th. Lawson also went through the circle for new tires, but his mechanics were called in to change the wheels, so he returned to the track just ahead of Enzo.
As the tires of New Zealand driver Carlin’s car were still cold, Fittipaldi immediately attempted an attack, but exaggerated it, failed to hold the car on the track and cut the chicane on the side of the road, leaving the position had to be returned.
Meanwhile, Jack Duane was in the pits, had his tires changed and returned to the track in eighth. Drugovic, the race leader, later made a pit stop, but the Aussie, with fresh tires, immediately went really fast and ended up in front of Felipe’s car. It is clear that everyone who was on track for this duo still had a mandatory pit stop.
Duane set the best lap of this stage of the race at his own expense and showed excellent pace: he had already started overtaking those who had not yet been in the pits – he was ahead of Amory Kordil and rose to 7th position, but after the Belgian he left Drugovic behind, after which he quickly followed Jack.
On the 15th lap, having already reached 4th position, Felipe caught up with him and tried to attack, as he would not give the win without a fight. But at the same time, he acted cautiously and very carefully: when the first attack failed, he loosened his grip slightly and allowed the opponent to increase the lead.
On lap 17 Duane returned to the lead, Drugovich trailed by a bit by a second and in principle he could well afford to finish second as the Australian is only 6th in the individual standings and has half as many points .
Third place was taken by Liam Lawson, Fittipaldi was one and a half seconds behind and Logan Sargent rounded out the top five.
Five laps from the finish, Richard Fershhor made his way to sixth after a series of brilliant overtakes, acting so resolutely and confidently that he soon overtook Sargent too and started chasing Fittipaldi. On the direct Kemmel he easily passed the Brazilian thanks to DRS, but Lawson had more than seven seconds to go, making it impossible to win back and compete for a podium place.
On the penultimate lap, Lirim Zendeli’s car stopped on track – apparently due to a technical problem – and a virtual safety car was briefly introduced, forcing everyone to slow down. The fight resumed with one round to go and Duane was on his way to his third win of the season.
But Jack won the race for the first time on Sunday, especially at the famous circuit in Spa, for which he obviously deserves all the credit. Although there was still the suspicion that Drugovic relaxed a bit and preferred a guaranteed second place over the battle for victory to avoid extra risks.
It’s funny that after the award ceremony, Jack Duane partly mimicked the way of his compatriot Daniel Riccardo, who poured prize champagne into a racing boot, but he didn’t take a sip of it himself, but offered it to a representative of his Virtuosi Racing team, who climbed onto the podium for the winning cup. Of course he couldn’t refuse.
After the results of the Belgian stage, Duane climbed to the 4th line of the individual classification, Lawson – to fifth, and both faced Enzo Fittipaldi, moving him to 6th place. And, of course, Drugovich remained the leader. Admittedly, Theo Purscher’s second place isn’t in danger just yet – Logan Sargent and that same Duane are still quite a ways away. But if the French rider ART does not make it to the next stage in Zandvoort, the prospects of competing for the title become even less real.
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
