F2 Azerbaijan Feature Race: Dennis Hauger wins as Juri Vips crashes out
12th June 2022Prema’s Dennis Hauger secured his second F2 win of the season as Juri Vips ended his session in heartbreak at Azerbaijan’s castle section.
How the race unfolded…
It was a perfect start from Vips who led into the first corner ahead of Carlin’s Liam Lawson, whereas Frederik Vesti was left stranded on the. But, the safety car was quickly brought out for Van Amersfoort Racing’s Amaury Cordeel and Campos’ Olli Caldwell who were stranded on the track after contact in the early laps.
After he was pushed back to the pit lane, Vesti had his engine restarted and the Danish driver was sent back out onto the Baku City Circuit.
The incident, between Cordeel and Caldwell, will be investigated after the session.
On lap four, the safety car finally returned to the pit lane which left Vips as the virtual safety car who set the field’s pace. The Hitech driver went wide, into the pit entry before he darted across and rejoined the track to get the race back underway. This allowed the Estonian to maintain the lead of the race, into turn one, ahead of Lawson and Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong.
Prema’s Jehan Daruvala, Dams’ Ayumu Iwasa and Charouz’s Cem Bolukbasi all came into the pit lane to become the first drivers to complete their mandatory pit stop, on lap eight. Out of the front runners, Lawson and Prema’s Dennis Hauger jumped into the pit lane, a lap later, to attempt an undercut on the Hitech drivers out in front.
However, Lawson had an issue and was forced to wait for some cars to pass in the fast lane before he could make his way back out. Whereas, Hauger didn’t have that issue and the Norwegian had a quick stop to rejoin the track, ahead of Lawson.
Due to the slow stop, Vips was quickly called back into the pits at the end of lap 10, quickly followed by Armstrong a lap later. With a fantastic in-lap, Armstrong completed his stop and returned to the track ahead of Vips.
The safety car was redeployed, on lap 12, after Dams’ Roy Nissany and Bolukbasi were seen in the barrier at turn two. As the two fiercely fought for track position, the Dams went around the outside of Bolukbasi into turn two but contact was made, on the right hand side of the Charouz, which threw both drivers into the barrier.
This incident was also noted by the stewards, which was soon upgraded to a investigation that would be conducted after the session.
At the end of lap 14, the Safety car returned to the pit lane as Trident’s Calan Williams dictated the packs pace. However, when the race restarted chaos ensued.
ART Theo Pourchaire made contact with the Campos of Ralph Boschung while Iwasa collided with the VAR of Jake Hughes, both drivers suffered front wing damage.
Whereas, at the front of the pack, Armstrong was seen under the gearbox of Vips into turn one.
As a result of the hectic restart, the Virtual Safety Car was quickly brought out. On lap 17, the race finally went back to green flag running.
Vips reclaimed the lead of the race on lap 18, as the Trident of Williams suffered a lock up into turn three and was forced to go into the run-off area. The Trident quickly returned to the track down in P13, 15 seconds ahead of Armstrong.
Due to the safety car interventions, the race wasn’t able to go to its full race distance and the session converted into a timed race, with less than 15 minutes left on the clock.
Unlike other instances in the session, the incidents at the restart between Iwasa/Hughes and Pourchair/Boschung were under investigation. However, Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan who was in P6 with less than 10 minutes left, was given a five second time penalty for causing a collision.
The race flipped on its head late on as Vips collided with the barrier, with just over six minutes to go, at turn eight. As the Estonian blasted into turn eight, he clipped the outside barrier which bounced the Hitech into inside barrier. The collision ripped his front right tyre from its suspension as he dragged a bit of the barrier to a stop, at the top of the hill.
The safety car was once again redeployed but due to Vips’ late crash, the race finished under the safety car.
Podium:
- Dennis Hauger, Prema
- Logan Sargeant, Carlin
- Felipe Drugovich, MP Motorsport
That’s it for the article: F2 Azerbaijan Feature Race: Dennis Hauger wins as Juri Vips crashes out! Absolutely hearbreaking for Vips, what did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 Azerbaijan Sprint Race: reprimand, no further action, grid penalty
- F2 Azerbaijan Sprint Race: Frederik Vesti wins after late drama
- F2 Monaco: Felipe Drugovich extends lead with feature race win
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