Marcus Armstrong completed a faultless drive in Austria, securing a dominant lights-to-flag win in Saturday’s sprint race.
After a perfect start off the line and maintaining the lead into turn 1 from Theo Pourchaire, the Kiwi remained unchallenged throughout the race. With consistent fastest laps and already over a second clear from Pourchaire by lap 5, he comfortably secured his second win in Formula 2. He was cautiously proud of his achievement when speaking to the media though it was evident this win meant a lot to him.
“It feels really good [to win] and it’s a relief, really… I was just sort of cruising, making sure I was inside everywhere and not making any mistakes. It was smooth sailing, but I think that I just needed to keep it inside the white lines.”
Marcus Armstrong in post-race press conference
With one Kiwi taking the win, the other in the field – Liam Lawson – had a race that went from bad to worse. Initially Lawson stalled on the formation lap however on lap 13 his car came to a sudden stop. Eventually he managed to limp it home to the pits but his race ended in a retirement.
After receiving the black and white limits for exceeding track limits, Theo Pourchaire was incredibly cautious nearing the end of the race to ensure he didn’t receive a time penalty. With five laps remaining, this cautious approach allowed Jack Doohan to close the gap to the man in second place thus kick starting a last-minute battle for P2. Pourchaire managed to avoid losing position to Doohan as well as completing the race with no time penalty for track limits.
“It’s very, very difficult. Yesterday, I only had only the one track limit for the whole day, I was too safe and today I wanted to push the limits a bit more… it’s not easy, but it’s a good challenge.”
Theo Pourchaire in post-race press conference
Third place Jack Doohan was pleased with earning his step of the podium, made extra special by having his father on the podium with him to present the trophy – Mick Doohan is a five time MotoGP world champion. However if he didn’t have the championship on his mind, the young Aussie feels more could have been done to challenge the leaders.
“It’s good to be back here on the podium. I think the car was in quite a decent window. If it was a different situation there could have been a move possibly in T3 or T4 but I need to build consistency in my Championship and this is a good start. You know, I’m happy. Obviously, it’s not big points so our focus will be tomorrow.”
Jack Doohan in post-race press conference
How the championships stand
After Saturday’s sprint race, the frontrunners of the drivers’ championship remained much the same with the only change in the top five being Marcus Armstrong’s promotion to P5. The teams’ championship battle is getting tighter and tighter with the top five teams separated by just 44 points. MP Motorsport remain leaders from ART Grand Prix by eight points, whilst Hitech is on PREMA’s tail for fourth a mere three points behind.