F2 Baku: Hauger takes first feature win after crash for Vips

The Hitech driver held a commanding lead from the start, starting on pole and holding position despite three safety car periods. 

But his race ended with just five minutes left on the clock, finding the wall in the castle section and allowing Hauger into the lead. 

The race ended under safety car, with the Prema rookie claiming his first series feature race win, having taken his first sprint victory in Monaco last time out.

The crash allowed Carlin’s Logan Sargeant into second, his best result so far this season, with championship leader Felipe Drugovich taking the final podium spot, despite having been running in eighth in the early stages. 

Starting on pole, Vips made a great start to hold the lead off the line, with Marcus Armstrong taking third from Hauger off the line. 

Drugovich fell back several places, ending up in eighth, while Frederik Vesti stalled on the line and was pushed back to the pitlane. 

The first safety car came on lap 1, with Amaury Cordeel and Olli Caldwell crashing at Turn 4 in an incident which will be investigated after the race. 

Racing resumed on lap 5, with Vips appearing to cross the pit line while preparing to restart the field. 

Pitstops got underway three laps later, with Jehan Daruvala among the first to pit, while Armstrong applied pressure to Liam Lawson on track for second place. 

Lawson (Carlin), Hauger and Trident’s Richard Verschoor pitted the following lap, with Hauger emerging in front of Lawson to take net third place. 

A well-timed pitstop from Armstrong put him out on track ahead of the pack, before he was passed by Vips on the straight on lap 12 for the net lead, with Verschoor out front on track. 

Frederik Vesti

The safety car was deployed again that lap, with Cem Bolukbasi and Roy Nissany making contact with the wall at Turn 2, the latter appearing to lock up down the inside and take both drivers into the barriers. 

A chaotic restart came on lap 15, with Armstrong almost taking out his team-mate, as a lock-up nudged him into the back of Vips at Turn 1 and forced the New Zealander to pit, though Vips escaped without damage and held the lead. 

The virtual safety car was deployed almost immediately after several incidents on the main straight, with Pourchaire and Ayumu Iwasa both suffering front wing damage in separate incidents. 

Lawson was also sent tumbling down the field after contact from Jack Doohan gave him a puncture, forcing him to pit and handing Doohan a five-second penalty. Despite crossing the line sixth, the Virtuosi driver was demoted to 13th after the race. 

Racing resumed on lap 18, with Williams going straight down the escape road at Turn 3 to hand Vips the on-track lead. 

But it was heartbreak for Vips on lap 23, ending up in the wall at the Castle section and handing Hauger the lead, with the Estonian driver visibly distraught. 

Further back Daruvala took fourth place, marking another strong points haul for Prema, with Verschoor in fifth and Enzo Fittipaldi in sixth for Charouz. 

Despite starting from the back of the field, sprint race winner Vesti made his way back up to seventh. 

F2 Baku feature race results (26 laps)

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Gap
1	1	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	26
2	6	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	26	0.400
3	11	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	26	0.900
4	2	Jehan Daruvala	Prema Powerteam	26	1.600
5	20	Richard Verschoor	Trident	26	2.700
6	22	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	26	2.900
7	9	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	26	3.100
8	4	Marino Sato	UNI-Virtuosi	26	4.700
9	15	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	26	4.900
10	24	Jake Hughes	Van Amersfoort Racing	26	5.200
11	10	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	26	5.300
12	7	Marcus Armstrong	HitechGP	26	6.000
13	3	Jack Doohan	UNI-Virtuosi	26	6.900
14	17	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	26	7.200
15	5	Liam Lawson	Carlin	26	11.500
16	21	Calan Williams	Trident	26	12.100
	8	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	22
	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	11
	23	Cem Bolukbasi	Charouz Racing System	11
	12	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	8
	25	Amaury Cordeel	Van Amersfoort Racing	25
	14	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing	25
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