F2 Australia: Hauger endures mixed conditions for sprint win

The MP Motorsport driver led from lights-to-flag to secure his third series victory and his first since moving to the reigning champions for 2023.

Despite a mid-race safety car and further rainfall, Hauger held off Jak Crawford and Kush Maini as the two rookies completed the podium for Hitech and Campos Racing respectively.

A wet-to-dry track and intermittent showers ended several drivers’ races prematurely, with Enzo Fittipaldi and Ralph Boschung both out on the reconnaissance lap having been caught out by wet patches.

Fittipaldi spun at Turn 9 and crashed into the barrier, before Boschung had a similar fate. He stalled rather than making contact, but was also unable to start.

Maini too spun on the way to the grid, but managed to keep going and line up third behind poleman Hauger and Crawford, as the start was delayed by five minutes to retrieve Fittipaldi’s stricken Rodin Carlin car.

Hauger held firm off the line, with movement further back as Prema rookie Ollie Bearman passed fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Arthur Leclerc (DAMS) for fourth.

However, Leclerc made it back past Bearman into Turn 9 as ART driver Victor Martins took advantage to sweep into fifth.

Rodin Carlin driver Zane Maloney demoted former Formula 3 rival Bearman a further place to sixth at Turn 11 on lap four, as Leclerc began looking to make a move on Maini for third.

The Monegasque driver took his chance three laps later at Turn 10, only for Maini to get back ahead into the following corner and hold his podium position.

Dennis Hauger, MP Motorsport leads Jak Crawford, Hitech Pulse-Eight at the start of the race

Photo by: Lionel Ng / Motorsport Images

On lap 13 the fight for fifth developed into a fierce multiple-car scrap as Martins battled Maloney and Isack Hadjar (Hitech) chased by Prema pair Bearman and Fredrik Vesti, with Maloney emerging at the head of the queue and Vesti passing his team-mate.

The safety car was deployed on lap 14 after Juan Manuel Correa tagged Virtuosi's home favourite Jack Doohan at Turn 3, spinning the Alpine academy driver and ending his race. Van Amersfoort Racing driver Correa, who returned to F2 this season after two years in F3, was handed a 10-second penalty for tomorrow's feature race as a result.

Several drivers gambled on pitting for wet tyres under the safety car as rainfall was reported in some areas of the circuit, Martins and his team-mate Theo Pourchaire among them.

The intermission wasn’t without action, with Correa spinning in a similar incident to that he caused with Doohan. Then as the safety car period was about to end, Brad Benavides headed into the wall at Turn 13 in his PHM Racing by Charouz car, extending it for another lap.

The safety car withdrew on the penultimate lap, and it soon became clear that Pourchaire's gamble on wets had backfired with Correa making it past the 2022 runner-up for 12th on the restart.

The pre-season favourite struggled to adapt to his wet tyres, sweeping across the gravel at Turn 1 and dropping down the order before retiring.

Bearman passed Vesti for seventh at Turn 9 on the final tour as Leclerc held his fourth place ahead of Maloney and Hadjar in fifth and sixth.

Feature race polesitter Ayumu Iwasa suffered an early puncture after a huge Turn 1 lock up forced his DAMS-run car into the pits. The Japanese eventually finished 13th.

F2 Australia - Sprint race results (22 laps)

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Interval
1	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	-
2	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	1.1	1.100	1.100
3	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	1.7	1.700	0.600
4	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	2.0	2.000	0.300
5	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	2.4	2.400	0.400
6	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	2.8	2.800	0.400
7	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	4.8	4.800	2.000
8	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam	5.2	5.200	0.400
9	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	5.5	5.500	0.300
10	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	5.7	5.700	0.200
11	Clement Novalak	Trident	6.4	6.400	0.700
12	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	11.8	11.800	5.400
13	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	12.3	12.300	0.500
14	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	16.8	16.800	4.500
15	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	36.6	36.600	19.800
16	Roman Staněk	Trident	37.2	37.200	0.600
17	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	41.0	41.000	3.800
	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	2 laps
	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	6 laps
	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	9 laps
	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing
	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin
View full results