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F2 Hungary: Pourchaire reignites title battle with feature race victory

Theo Pourchaire clinched FIA Formula 2 feature race victory in Hungary to reignite the title battle with Felipe Drugovich.

Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

DPPI

The ART driver lined up fourth, making his way up to second behind Marcus Armstrong before the pitstops.

But a slow stop for the Hitech driver allowed Pourchaire to get out ahead, taking the net lead ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi before picking off those ahead who were yet to stop.

Despite the Charouz driver closing the gap on the leader to just 1.2s by the final laps, he was unable to make it past for his maiden victory.

Pourchaire’s win, with Drugovich finishing in ninth, closes the title fight to just 21 points going into the summer break, with four rounds remaining.

Fittipaldi settled for second, the Brazilian holding off polesitter Ayumu Iwasa, despite making a mistake at the chicane on the last lap to take his second podium of the weekend.

Armstrong took the lead from Iwasa off the line, with the top four all running on the soft compound tyre, before Pourchaire passed the Japanese driver for second by Turn 3.

Title contender Logan Sargeant had a poor start, dropping six places off the line.

Fittipaldi was up to fifth by lap four, having started ninth, passing Frederik Vesti up the inside of Turn 3, while the ART driver was handed a five-second penalty for forcing another driver off the track.

Armstrong had a 1.6s gap to Pourchaire by lap six, with Iwasa looking at second place but staying behind the Frenchman.

Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: DPPI

Drugovich was first to pit for medium tyres on lap seven, as did Jehan Daruvala (Prema), exiting into 19th place.

The move prompted the top three to pit the following lap with Pourchaire and Iwasa emerging in front of Armstrong to take the net top two, the New Zealander missing out courtesy of his location in the pitlane.

Pourchaire and Iwasa also emerged ahead of Drugovich, the former taking 16th on the road as his title rival fell back.

Drugovich passed Armstrong the following lap, with Fittipaldi pitting as Vesti took the lead on the road.

A quick stop for the Charouz man put him back out behind Pourchaire but ahead of Iwasa, despite him having asked to pit the lap before, and igniting a battle for net second.

Pourchaire continued to move through those yet to stop, passing David Beckmann at Turn 1 for seventh place on the road, while Drugovich closed in on Iwasa.

But Armstrong took net fourth back from Drugovich on lap 23, the MP Motorsport driver struggling with the medium tyres.

Vesti pitted three laps later and served his five-second penalty, emerging eighth, while Juri Vips pitted behind him and came out 10th, with both struggling to get temperature into their tyres and locking up.

Sargeant pitted on lap 27, rejoining in 17th, while Vips retook ninth from Daruvala up ahead as Vesti passed a yet-to-pit Amaury Cordeel (Van Amersfoort) for sixth two laps later.

Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: DPPI

Vesti was on the back of Drugovich in the closing laps, eventually passing him at Turn 14 on lap 31 as spots of rain began to fall around the circuit, before Vips did the same at Turn 2 the following lap.

Richard Verschoor was next to pass Drugovich, demoting the championship leader to ninth, while up ahead Vesti passed Armstrong just two laps from the end to take fourth.

Vips followed suit on the penultimate lap to secure fifth, with his team-mate settling for sixth, as Lawson made it past Verschoor for seventh, as Drugovich and Sargeant completed the top 10.

Race one winner Jack Doohan, who started 10th, retired early on having suffered a mechanical issue.

F2 Hungary - Feature Race Results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Interval
1 France Theo Pourchaire France ART Grand Prix 37 -    
2 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 37 3.6 3.600 3.600
3 Japan Ayumu Iwasa France DAMS 37 5.9 5.900 2.300
4 Denmark Frederik Vesti France ART Grand Prix 37 6.7 6.700 0.800
5 Estonia Jüri Vips United Kingdom HitechGP 37 9.6 9.600 2.900
6 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong United Kingdom HitechGP 37 13.5 13.500 3.900
7 New Zealand Liam Lawson United Kingdom Carlin 37 14.7 14.700 1.200
8 Netherlands Richard Verschoor Italy Trident 37 20.1 20.100 5.400
9 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Netherlands MP Motorsport 37 28.6 28.600 8.500
10 United States Logan Sargeant United Kingdom Carlin 37 29.2 29.200 0.600
11 India Jehan Daruvala Italy Prema Powerteam 37 42.4 42.400 13.200
12 France Clement Novalak Netherlands MP Motorsport 37 42.8 42.800 0.400
13 Turkey Cem Bolukbasi Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 37 45.7 45.700 2.900
14 Germany David Beckmann Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 37 47.4 47.400 1.700
15 Japan Marino Sato United Kingdom UNI-Virtuosi 37 47.6 47.600 0.200
16 Israel Roy Nissany France DAMS 37 48.3 48.300 0.700
17 Australia Calan Williams Italy Trident 37 51.2 51.200 2.900
18 Belgium Amaury Cordeel Netherlands Van Amersfoort Racing 37 56.0 56.000 4.800
19 Norway Dennis Hauger Italy Prema Powerteam 37 1'17.9 1'17.900 21.900
20 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell Spain Campos Racing 36 1 lap    
21 Spain Roberto Merhi Spain Campos Racing 34 3 laps    
22 Australia Jack Doohan United Kingdom UNI-Virtuosi 2 35 laps    

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