Frederik Vesti drove to victory in the F2 Abu Dhabi Sprint today, keeping his title dreams alive as he takes the fight to Théo Pourchaire tomorrow. Pourchaire, the Championship leader, secured seventh after a dramatic opening lap.
Frederik Vesti secured P1 for PREMA Racing in the F2 Abu Dhabi Sprint, keeping him in the fight for the title going into the last race of the season tomorrow, while the Championship leader Théo Pourchaire finished P7. Vest, after dropping down to fourth at lights out, fought back through the field to take the lead from Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi on the second to last lap. His victory is his sixth of the season, with the win and also a fastest lap points proving crucial in the Championship fight.
Richard Verschoor held off Isack Hadjar to take the final step on the podium, and some good points for Van Amersfoort Racing.
As it Happened
At lights out, Vesti immediately stole the inside line into Turn 1 with a good launch off the line. As he did so he was side by side with Fittipaldi, and emerged ahead out of turn 3, where he stayed after Turn 5 as Fittipaldi went deep under braking.
Hadjar and Verschoor behind made the most of the duel unfolding ahead, going four-wide down the back straight and slipping past either side of Vesti. Meanwhile further down the grid, Pourchaire was already on his way up the board, climbing from 14th to ninth.
The Safety Car was deployed from the pits at the end of the first lap after a spin from Juan Manuel Correa at Turn 3. Victor Martins, an innocent bystander in the spin, was forced to pit for repairs to a damaged nosecone.
Racing resumed on Lap 6 where Fittipaldi got a great restart and pulled half a second clear of Hadjar. Vesti capitalised on the restart, squeezing past Verschoor on Turn 6 to move up to third. On the brink of points, Jack Doohan made his way up from P10, flying past Ayumu Iwasa after a wide exit out of Turn 9. Pourchaire was still making his way up the standings, going late on the brakes to challenge Kush Maini and making it past both him and Iwasa for P7.
[adrotate banner=”9″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.
Vesti Closes In
Vesti, after being instructed to push for the fastest lap, hunted down Hadjar by Lap 10, successfully overtaking him by Turn 9. He now had race leader Fittipaldi in his sights, chipping away at the 2.3 second gap ahead of him. Hard at work, Vesti set the fastest lap on both Laps 12 and 13.
Four laps later, Vesti was on Fittipaldi’s tail for the lead. As Fittipaldi locked up at Turn 5 and the door opened for an overtake, Vesti also locked up. As Fittipaldi tried to break the tow from the car in his mirrors, he was forced into a mistake and locked up in the same corner three laps later. Vesti took advantage once again. With better grip, he took the inside line from Fittipaldi in Turn 6 and immediately sped out of DRS range from the now-second place Rodin Carlin. He reached the chequered flag 3.8 seconds clear of Fittipaldi.
Richard Verschoor took P3, whilst Hadjar’s defensive drive for P4 fell through on the final lap as Denis Hauger snatched the spot away. Jack Doohan finished sixth ahead of Pourchaire and Iwasa took the final points-paying position.
Vesti is looking ahead to tomorrow now to take on Pourchaire for the Championship Title;
“It was honestly just from a pure race perspective, this race was brilliant from my side. Obviously we all love racing here and I think it was really, really good racing from the first lap and all the way with five laps to go.Yeah, I really enjoyed that one. The bigger picture of course coming to this weekend, I knew I had to do something very special, and winning this sprint race was the first part of that. I still have a big job tomorrow to try to go for this championship. But yeah, first job completed today.”
[adrotate banner=”10″]
Get 10% off all official F1 Merch at TheRaceWorks.com using code ‘EF1‘ at checkout.
Image by (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)