F2 – RND 10 – Day 2 & 3

Day 2-

Hauger gained the run he needed on the way to Turn 1 to take the inside line and lead away from Kush Maini. Iwasa surged around the outside of the Campos driver at Turn 2 to take second from fifth on the grid, while Bearman was looming large in Maini’s mirrors for third.

Victor Martins also got in on the action, moving up to seventh from P9 on the grid, rounding Isack Hadjar at Turn 12 to end a busy opening lap.

Frederik Vesti tried to pass Hadjar at Turn 1 on lap 2 but was forced to take to the runoff. It allowed Jack Doohan enough momentum to go around the outside of the Championship leader and take ninth from the Dane at Turn 2.

A DRS train formed in the first 10 laps which started from second down to 21st as drivers looked to save tyre life for later in the race.

The formation running ended on lap 12 after a lock up by Clement Novalak into Turn 1 put the Trident driver on a collision course with Ralph Boschung. It left both drivers out of the running and brought out a brief VSC.

With 11 laps to go, Iwasa was given the all clear from the team to push, and the action ramped up once again as everyone upped the pace. The DAMS driver closed up to Hauger by eight tenths of a second on the following lap, with the gap at 1.9s entering the final 10 laps.

With five laps left, Pourchaire made the dive at Turn 1 on Maini having been stuck to the rear wing of the Campos. Bearman was next on the attack, taking fourth position from the Indian driver at the next corner, going all the way around the outside.

Down to three laps remaining and this time Bearman was the one making the late dive to the inside at Turn 1, forcing his way through on Pourchaire to take P3 from the french driver.

The full top 10 are- P1: Hauger, P2: Iwasa, P3: Bearman, P4: Pourchaire, P5: Daruvala, P6: Maini, P7: Martins, P8: Hadjar, P9: Vesti and P10: Doohan.

Day 3-

Doohan got a great launch from pole to lead into Turn 1 while third placed Vesti went wheel to wheel with Martins into the first corner. On the run to Turn 2, the PREMA Racing driver got the move done to seal second position.

Oliver Bearman started on mediums from seventh, but the Briton fell back to ninth on the opening lap, passed by Dennis Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi who were both on the softs. Juan Manuel Correa made an electric start to move up five places to P10.

Zane Maloney was the first of those on soft tyres to make a mandatory stop on Lap 8. The Rodin Carlin driver rejoined in 21st but his stopped dragged a few more in on the following lap.

Isack Hadjar was the first of the top five to stop on Lap 13 from fifth and Theo Pourchaire responded one lap later, both swapping to the mediums. The ART Grand Prix driver rejoined in 14th to remain ahead of his compatriot, but both were caught up behind Amaury Cordeel on old medium tyres.

Vesti made the swap to mediums lap 23, rejoining in fourth position just 1.4s ahead of title rival Pourchaire.
Martins pitted on the following lap and filtered out on cold tyres ahead of Vesti. The Mercedes junior breezed back through to take the place on the run to Turn 2.

While his rivals scrapped on track, Doohan made his stop on Lap 25, rejoining with the lead of the race and 8.7s ahead of closest challenger Vesti in second.
Iwasa was onto the back of Pourchaire quickly with his soft tyres fired up. The Japanese driver got the switchback out of Turn 1 to take fifth position on Lap 26.

The full top 10 are- P1: Doohan, P2: Vesti, P3: Martins, P4: Iwasa, P5: Hadjar, P6: Pourchaire, P7: Hauger, P8: Fittipaldi, P9: Correa and P10: Verschoor.

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