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Race report

F2 Saudi Arabia: Lawson battles to victory in chaotic Jeddah sprint

Liam Lawson took victory in a chaotic Formula 2 sprint race in Saudi Arabia which yielded two safety cars amid several incidents down the field.

Race winner Liam Lawson, Carlin on the podium

Race winner Liam Lawson, Carlin on the podium

Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The Carlin driver overtook Jake Hughes on the start-finish straight with just two laps remaining to take his second victory in the series.

The race was much-interrupted, with the safety car emerging for the first time after Amaury Cordeel hit the wall at Turn 12 on the second tour.

The second immediately followed the first, which ended on lap seven. Powering off the final corner, Jack Doohan ran into the back of Logan Sargeant, putting both cars out and prompting the Mercedes AMG GT pace car to return to the circuit immediately.

As this second safety car period commenced, drivers were instructed to head through the pitlane, but the call was immediately reversed with a second message from race control.

But race leader Dennis Hauger - who had started on pole - instead followed the first instruction and fell down the field. His misery was compounded when the Norwegian was handed a 10-second stop-and-go penalty, which was faced with confusion from his Prema team.

The incident handed the lead to Calan Williams (Trident), although he was immediately passed on the lap 13 restart by Hughes - the Briton having recovered from a slow start to fend off Ayumu Iwasa and Lawson -at Turn 1. Much of the field was reshuffled, as Lawson also passed Williams for second. Hitech Grand Prix driver Juri Vips then demoted Williams a further position into the Turn 27 hairpin.

Dennis Hauger led the initial start but lost a likely win under bizarre circumstances

Dennis Hauger led the initial start but lost a likely win under bizarre circumstances

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Lawson took the fastest lap on the 17th tour, shortly before his dramatic pass on Hughes - where the Kiwi blasted past the Van Amersfoort Racing driver to secure the lead.

The virtual safety car was activated with two laps remaining after Marcus Armstrong’s Hitech-run car ground to a halt as he ran in sixth, leaving just one lap of racing before the chequered flag.

Vips then snatched second place from Hughes at the last moment, crossing the finish line just a tenth ahead of the Briton after a last-lap battle following the close of the VSC period.

Feature race poleman Felipe Drugovich took fourth place for MP Motorsport, passing Williams as the virtual safety car ended, with the Australian ending the sprint in fifth.

Richard Verschoor narrowly avoided a collision with Roy Nissany after the latter locked up at Turn 4, almost ending both of their races on lap 1, but the Dutch driver followed his Trident team-mate Williams home in sixth.

Iwasa and Ralph Boschung rounded out the scorers in the top eight, as Jehan Daruvala and Marino Sato completed the top 10.

Hauger finished last of the classified runners following his pitlane faux-pas, 26s behind Campos' Olli Caldwell.

F2 Saudi Arabia sprint race classification - 20 laps

Cla Driver Team Time Gap
1 New Zealand Liam Lawson United Kingdom Carlin 47'55.487  
2 Estonia Jüri Vips United Kingdom HitechGP 47'58.653 3.166
3 United Kingdom Jake Hughes Van Amersfoort Racing 47'58.711 3.224
4 Brazil Felipe Drugovich Netherlands MP Motorsport 48'00.333 4.846
5 Australia Calan Williams Italy Trident 48'01.764 6.277
6 Netherlands Richard Verschoor Italy Trident 48'07.608 12.121
7 Ayumu Iwasa Japan Nissan e.Dams 48'09.007 13.520
8 Switzerland Ralph Boschung Spain Campos Racing 48'09.941 14.454
9 India Jehan Daruvala Italy Prema Powerteam 48'10.724 15.237
10 Japan Marino Sato Virtuosi Racing 48'11.527 16.040
11 Israel Roy Nissany Japan Nissan e.Dams 48'12.877 17.390
12 Brazil Enzo Fittipaldi Czech Republic Charouz Racing System 48'12.928 17.441
13 Switzerland Clement Novalak Netherlands MP Motorsport 48'14.226 18.739
14 Denmark Frederik Vesti France ART Grand Prix 48'15.785 20.298
15 France Theo Pourchaire France ART Grand Prix 48'16.056 20.569
16 United Kingdom Olli Caldwell Spain Campos Racing 48'20.982 25.495
17 Norway Dennis Hauger Italy Prema Powerteam 48'46.982 51.495
  New Zealand Marcus Armstrong United Kingdom HitechGP 3 laps  
  United States Logan Sargeant United Kingdom Carlin 15 laps  
  Australia Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing 15 laps  
  Amaury Cordeel Van Amersfoort Racing 19 laps  

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