F2 Spanish Grand Prix: Felipe Drugovich secures stellar feature race win
22nd May 2022MP Motorsport’s, Felipe Drugovich put in a stellar performance as he went from 10th to first for Formula 2’s feature race, and finished five seconds ahead of Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan.
How the race unfolded…
It was a great getaway from the Virtuosi pole sitter, Jack Doohan, as he covered off the advances of ART’s Frederik Vesti and Hitech’s Juri Vips as he moved over to the inside line. As a result, Doohan managed to outbreak his competitors and lead into the first corner while Vesti opted for second ahead of Vips.
While it was a fairly well behaved start to the feature race, it erupted in the final chicane as the Campos of Olli Caldwell and Prema of Dennis Hauger made contact. As a result, race control were investigating the incident between the two drivers. Hauger was soon issued with a five-second time penalty for causing a collision.
On lap four, the safety car was deployed as the Prema of Jehan Daruvala was stranded in the middle of the track at turn seven. It was found Daruvala had a mechanical issue on the exit of turn five as his engine cut out on him, which forced the Indian driver to retire.
However, this also ruined Ayumu Iwasa’s (Dams) race as he clipped the rear of Daruvala when the Prema engine died. The Dams driver was forced to pit to get a new front wing at the end of that lap.
At the end of lap six, the safety car finally ventured back to the pit lane and Doohan got the race back underway on lap seven as he gained the jump on Vesti at the exit of turn 12.
A lap later, Doohan and Vesti remained out on track while Vips peeled off into the pit lane to complete his mandatory pit stop. It was a relatively good stop for the Estonian but the wheel gun on his front left tyre ruined his stop. As the mechanics changed his tyres, the front left mechanic struggled to tighten the wheel nut and had to get help from the rear right mechanic before Vips could get back out on track.
Vesti soon came in for his mandatory stop, at the end of lap 10, as he looked to complete his stop and get out ahead of the traffic. Fortunately, it was a beautiful stop from his team who quickly got him back out onto the circuit.
After he pit in a mighty starting stint, MP Motorsports’ championship leader, Felipe Drugovich finally pitted to make his mandatory stop on lap 17. However, with an issue on tightening his front left tyre, the championship leader ended up back on track just behind Vesti who obtained net-second place.
While Vesti struggled to pass Hauger, Drugovich – on the fresher tyres – managed to move up to P7, ahead of Vesti and Hauger, respectively, into turn one. This meant, after all the pit stops had been completed, Drugovich could fight Doohan for the race lead.
Drugovich was soon noted by race control for an alleged pit lane infringement. However, the MP driver wasn’t the only one, ART’s Theo Pourchaire and Vesti were also under investigation for the same infringement.
At the end of the 24th lap, Drugovich finally managed to move up to P2 ahead of Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong into the turn 10 braking zone. While Armstrong peeled into the pit lane, Drugovich started to make inroads to battle Doohan for the lead.
With much fresher tyres, and better traction, Drugovich managed to stay close to Doohan in the final chicane. As a result, it allowed the championship leader to overtake Doohan down the pit straight with ease as the race entered its 27th lap.
After he secured the race lead, with 10 laps still left to go, Drugovich put in a stellar performance and established a five-second gap between himself and Doohan, as a precaution for his pending investigation.
Podium:
- Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport
- Jack Doohan, Virtuosi Racing
- Frederik Vesti, ART
That’s it for the article: F2 Spanish Grand Prix: Felipe Drugovich takes max points in feature race win! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- Spain GP: Felipe Drugovich tops F2 practice
- F2 returns to France in 2022
- F2 Emilia-Romagna Feature Race: Theo Pourchaire wins after late drama
- F2 Spain test: Day one in Barcelona
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
