The track in Zandvoort is, of course, not a street ring in Monaco, and in itself it is quite interesting and peculiar, but overtaking is also bad there. Even the Saturday sprints of the youth series confirmed this once once more, and in fact, bold and hot guys are racing in F3 and F2, however, they preferred not to take risks once once more.
And those who took risks did not always come out victorious in duels with rivals – a couple of attempts to overtake in the morning Formula 3 race ended in collisions, crashes off the track and the appearance of a safety car. The character of Sunday’s Formula 2 race, more than eventful, was also linked to the features of Circuit Zandvoort.
Felipe Drugovic started from pole position, the leader of the individual standings, who won the qualification on Friday. He was well aware that the track is not conducive to a bright fight, so he secured the most favorable position in advance.
It seemed that Felipe started off a little worse than Jack Duane, but still kept ahead. But Duane and Logan Sargent, who started in second and third, had their own challenges as they contend for third place in the championship, and it was important for each of them to make the race as good as possible.
And this is what came of it: Jack blocked the wheels in the first turn, Logan pressed on him from behind, trying to win back at least one position, but, apparently, he also reacted not in the best way to the opponent’s braking and flew to the side of the road. There he was able to regain control of the car, returned to the track, but at that time everyone had already passed by.
Realizing that he was missing the opportunity to earn points, he, of course, got upset, rushed to catch up with the peloton, managed to overtake one of the outsiders, but then began to attack Ralf Boschung, who was driving at the end of the second ten. At that moment, contact occurred – the front wheel of Sargent’s Dallara caught the rear wheel of the car of the Swiss racer Campos, following which Logan might no longer do anything – he flew off the track in the 7th turn and crashed into the fence at full speed.
The rider did not appear to be hurt, but was sent to the track’s medical center for examination, but the barriers were badly damaged and took time to repair. The safety car pulled out first, then the race was stopped by red flags and everyone returned to the pit lane.
But the very first laps, many of its participants drove in a combative way, for example, Theo Purscher, who started 16th, was able to win back a couple of positions, Clement Novalak managed to climb to 7th place, and Amaury Kordil moved from 12th to 9th.
It took regarding twenty minutes to repair the barriers, while the stewards began to investigate a strange incident that occurred during the period when there was a safety car on the track. Either Roy Nissani, who was driving 15th, suddenly braked on the straight, or David Beckman, who was driving close behind him, did not calculate the speed, but in order not to crash into the Israeli car, he was forced to sharply turn to the right, but Marino Sato was driving there.
It all ended with the fact that Beckman had to change the broken front fender, and he rolled back to the last position.
The restart was given behind the safety car. Drugovich calmly retained the lead, but his teammate, Clement Novalak, had to repel the attack of Marcus Armstrong, who tried to take the 7th position from the Frenchman. However, he literally fought back, as there was little contact between the machines.
Now Clement himself decided to attack Liam Lawson, who was driving 6th, and almost got ahead of the New Zealander, but he still retained his position.
On lap 8, Jack Duane decided to take a chance and tried to get ahead of the leader of the race, but heavily blocked the wheels and only ruined his tires.
In the meantime, pit stops began, one of the first to go for fresh tires was Novalak, returning to the track 18th. But of the rest of the top ten riders, only Yuri Vips went to the pit stop – however, Duane was also forced to turn into the pits through the circle.
Soon Drugovich also went to the mandatory pit stop, who managed to keep his position ahead of the Australian without any problems. But the interval between the cars was minimal, despite the fact that Felipe was driving on cold tires, and Jack had already warmed them up. And then Richard Fershor, who left the pits, intervened in their fight, whose car was just between the leader and Duane, who was chasing him.
The attack of the Australian was not that choked, but he had to get ahead of another opponent – not Drugovich, but Fershor. However, we did not see the continuation of this curious situation, because on the 18th lap the race was once more neutralized by the appearance of the safety car. This time the problem was that at the pit stop on Marino Sato’s car, the front left wheel was poorly secured, and in the second turn it simply fell off, and the Japanese crashed into the barrier. On the video replay, it was clearly seen that the Virtuosi team mechanic did not really fix the wheel, although he raised his hand, signaling that everything was in order.
When the safety car left the track on lap 21, it was just under half the distance to the finish line. Liam Lawson was in the lead, but he was not yet in the pits, as were the five riders who followed.
When the restart was given, events on the track developed according to a very strange, if not absurd, scenario. Lawson was in no hurry to accelerate, which the rivals did not expect, and one of them managed to add gas, but the speed had to be dropped immediately. In this situation, not everyone was correctly oriented, and Richard Fershor crashed into Jack Duane, who was driving 8th, sending the Australian’s car into a U-turn.
Since the intervals between the cars were minimal, this led to several more incidents in the second half of the peloton, and as a result, Clement Novalak and Tatiana Calderon retired due to broken cars.
On the 25th lap, the race resumed once once more, and if Lawson remained on the track, then several riders of the top five immediately turned into the pit lane. This allowed Theo Purscher to move up to 2nd position, followed by Frederik Vesti and Drugovic in 4th. When Purscher went into the pits on the next lap, Felipe inherited third position.
Lawson went for fresh tires on lap 27 – by the way, it looks like he will still have to appear before the stewards, who began an investigation into the incident at the restart. And when Vesti also went to the pit stop, Drugovich led the race.
But the Brazilian tried to put pressure on Fershor, albeit on a damaged car. Recall that it was he who knocked Jack Duane off the track, and following that contact a hole formed on the nose cone of the Dutchman’s car. However, the race in Zandvoort is his home stage, and, of course, he wanted to excel in front of his compatriots.
However, Drugovich guessed the opponent’s intentions and added to break away from him at a more or less safe distance.
Due to several restarts and the consequences of numerous accidents, the race was delayed, so the finish was given not by the number of laps, but by time. Felipe Drugovic was in the lead by almost two seconds, Fershor was in second position, but Ayumu Iwasa was already catching up with him.
A rather sharp struggle went on for other positions in the top ten, but it didn’t come to serious attacks, but Purscher still managed to get ahead of Kalan Williams, but it was a struggle only for the 11th position. However, in the end, the Frenchman made another successful attack: he beautifully overtook Jehan Daruwala and earned at least one point for 10th place.
All the rest, who rode in the top ten, remained in their positions, and soon Felipe Drugovic received congratulations on another well-deserved victory – already the fifth of the season. But also Richard Fershhor, who took second place, was glad that he was able to climb the podium in the home race. True, it was he who knocked Jack Duane off the track, and the stewards will investigate what happened at the restart following the finish.
Ayumu Iwasa closed the top three – for the Japanese, this is the fifth podium in his debut season, which is also not bad. Finished fourth Dennis Hauger, fifth – Enzo Fittipaldi.
It is worth noting that the race participants drove two laps less than originally expected, 38 instead of 40, because the time limit was exhausted.
Race results
| Pilot | Team | Time/Difference |
| 1. F.Druhovych | MP Motorsport | 1 time 25:22.484 |
| 2. R. Fershor | Trident | +2.405 |
| 3. A. Ivasa | DAMS | +3.645 |
| 4. D. Hauger | According to | +6.947 |
| 5. E. Fittipaldi | Charouz Racing System | +7.987 |
| 6. A. Kordil | Van Amersfoort Racing | +10.872 |
| 7. Yu.Vips | Hitech GP | +12.400 |
| 8. D. Beckman | Van Amersfoort Racing | +13.190 |
| 9. O. Caldwell | Campos Racing | +14.609 |
| 10. T. Purscher | ART Grand Prize | +15.562 |
| 11. D. Daruvala | According to | +17.281 |
| 12. C. Williams | Trident | +18.499 |
| 13. L. Lawson | Carlin | +20.264 |
| 14. M. Armstrong | Hitech GP | +25.601 |
| 15. R. Nissani | DAMS | +27.144 |
| 16. F. Vesti | ART Grand Prize | +29.385 |
| 17. R. Boshung | Campos Racing | +50.639 |
| – T. Calderon | Charouz Racing System | meeting |
| – K. Novalak | MP Motorsport | meeting |
| – D. Duane | Virtuous | meeting |
| – M. Sato | Virtuous | meeting |
| – L. Sargent | Carlin | meeting |
