FormulaNerds Cut To The Race Podcast

Rudy Carezzevoli

F2 Feature Race results: Belgium

A chaotic race in Belgium saw the Invicta Virtuosi earn another win

Caitlyn Gordon 4 min read

Latest Episode | Cut To The Race Podcast

Jack Doohan gets back-to-back feature race wins in a thrilling race at Spa-Francorchamps

Invicta Virtuosi celebrating Doohan's victory in Belgium. Photo credits: Joe Portlock via Getty Images
Invicta Virtuosi celebrating Doohan’s victory in Belgium. Photo credits: Joe Portlock via Getty Images

The rainy weekend at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit continued for Sunday’s F2 Feature Race. Saturday’s Sprint Race saw Enzo Fittipaldi battle his way up to victory and earn his first win in the F2. The young Brazillian who started in second place waited until the penultimate lap to make his move on Richard Verschoor. A late penalty saw Verschoor disqualified from the race, losing his podium position and promoting Dennis Hauger to the podium. Theo Pourchaire was awarded 2nd and stood on the podium for the 18th in F2. He now closes the gap to seven points between himself and Vesti.

It was PREMA who topped the qualifying times on Friday. Oliver Bearman takes his second pole of the season with Championship leader Vesti in second place. The ART of Victor Martins rounds the top 3 out. Pourchaire starts in the 5th position and will be looking to finish above Vesti to lower the gap even further.

After F3 driver Gabriel Mini crashed on his way to the main pit lane before the start of the race, Vesti hit the wall on the formation lap and was deemed out of the race. A disappointing end to the weekend for the Danish may advantage Pourchaire. Martins who starts in third also spun out on the formation lap but his car continued on.

Lights out

Bearman got a lightning start and shot away from the rest of the pack heading into Eau Rouge. A disappointing start for Martins who lost a place due to a slow start into the first corner and dropped down into 4th.

Hauger who was awarded a podium yesterday was struck by Iwasa and it saw him spin out. Iwasa ended up with a broken suspension and was left fighting with the car before heading to the pits to get it fixed under the safety car. However, it was the end of the road for Iwasa who ended up having to retire. The black flag was shown to Hauger after the marshals helped restart his car and saw him running down in 19th. He had to retire his car on the sixth lap.

Now with all the cars behind a safety car, Bearman lost his advantage. The other ART of Championship contender Pourchaire was now sitting in second place just behind the young Brit.

The green flag is shown

The two Rodin Carlin teammates, Enzo Fittipaldi and Zane Maloney came together while battling for third position. Both drivers came out and didn’t suffer any significant damage. Fittipaldi continued on in third whilst Maloney dropped behind 4th place Martins.

The scrap between Bearman and Pourchaire was spicing up with the Frenchman looming behind Bearman. Looking to avoid contact with the PREMA Pourchaire was playing it safe and waiting for the right moment to attack. Now over a second ahead of Pourchaire on lap 10, Bearman was starting to build a gap and hoping to add another win to his name.

Isak Hadjar pitted on the 12th lap for new tyres, however as he was exiting the pitlane the cold tyres had no grip and became tough for him to control. Hadjar hit the wall and it sadly cut his race short, he became the 4th retirement of the race. This incident comes just after Novalak went off the track leaving the pit lane, he would later suffer a 5-second penalty for this.

Safety car chaos

The VSC was issued and as soon as the green flag was shown Pourchaire was right on the tail of Bearman. It was now becoming a three-car battle with Sprint Race winner Fittipaldi throwing himself into the mix and starting to battle the front two.

The two front fighters came into the pitlane, both the drivers were side-by-side leaving the pit. It was a close battle but in the end, it was Pourchaire who prevailed out of the pair.

The safety car was once again brought out on lap 16, Crawford was hit by Correra and causing him to spin out and lose his engine. This favoured those on the alternative strategy, Doohan was one of those drivers who advantaged from it. After starting in 11th position he climbed his way up to the front of the pack. Doohan was ahead of Bearman who dropped down to third, after controlling the race for 15 laps the Brit lost the advantage after his battle with Pourchaire in the pitlane.

It was a weekend to forget for Jehan Daruvala who became another retirement from the race. After running wide and being forced off track by Maloney he suffered damage that ended his race. This comes after Daruvala had to retire on the first lap of yesterday’s Sprint Race after his headrest came loose and fell out of his car.

The closing stages of the race

With five laps now left, the lights went green once again. Pourchaire was leading the pack but Doohan was putting pressure on the Frenchman. Bearman was slipping away from the front two, by lap 22 he was already 2.5 seconds behind Doohan. With no DRS available yet Doohan was doing well to keep close to the front-runner only four-tenths of a second separated him from first place and the Australian wasn’t going down without a fight.

On lap 23 it was Doohan who came out on top and took first place from Pourchaire. After winning the last feature race in Budapest the Invicta Virtuosi was on course to get a back-to-back win. He cruised along to get his second win of the season.

Pourchaire crossed the line second, and with the 18 points he gained the Frenchman became the new F2 Championship leader.

After a strong start to the race for the PREMA of Bearman, the end of the race was a weekend to forget. Bearman dropped down to 7th position after being issued a penalty due to an incident which occurred between himself and Martins.

An excellent weekend for Enzo Fittipaldi who gained his maiden victory in yesterday’s Sprint race also saw him finish on the podium in the Feature race.

Full results can be found here

Featured image credits: Rudy Carezzevoli via Getty Images

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This website is unofficial and is not associated in any way with the Formula 1 companies. F1, FORMULA ONE, FORMULA 1, FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, GRAND PRIX and related marks are trade marks of Formula One Licensing B.V.

Zeen is a next generation WordPress theme. It’s powerful, beautifully designed and comes with everything you need to engage your visitors and increase conversions.

Back to the top