Frederik Vesti remains in the fight for the Formula 2 title. This Saturday he won the Sprint race in Abu Dhabi, in what is the final round of the season, recovering eight points from the championship leader.
With the starting grid partially inverted based on the qualifying results, Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) took pole position, but Vesti (Prema) immediately launched an attack on the Brazilian towards turn one. He managed to overtake briefly at turn six, but Fittipaldi regained the lead.
Also in the fight were Isack Hadjar (Hitech Pulse-Eight) and Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort Racing), who were side by side on the straight towards turns six and seven. An incident involving Juan Manuel Correa (Van Amersfoort Racing) and Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) led to the race being neutralized – an incident that Théo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix) took advantage of to move into the top ten after starting 14th.
The race resumed on the fifth lap and, with nothing to lose, Vesti – then in fourth place – went on the attack. He overtook Verschoor and then Hadjar. At that point, Fittipaldi was over two seconds ahead, but the Danish driver didn’t give up. The Brazilian tried to defend, but a mistake on lap 20 was the opportunity Vesti needed to overtake.
From then on, no one else had the means to compete with the Nordic driver, who won the race with almost four seconds of advantage and set the fastest lap. Verschoor came out on top in the battle for the final spot on the podium. Hadjar couldn’t hold onto fourth place and was overtaken by Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport).
Jack Doohan (Invicta Virtuosi), who will start from pole position in tomorrow’s Feature race, finished sixth ahead of Pourchaire. Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) scored the final point in eighth place.
Results:
