Jake Hughes wins Austria Race 2 after last lap drama

Jake Hughes took HWA Racelab's maiden FIA Formula 3 victory in Austria after last lap drama at Spielberg saw Prema Racing team-mates Robert Schwartzman and Marcus Armstrong come to blows.

For the second race of the Austria race weekend, Lirim Zendeli started from pole position after finishing in eighth in Race 1, with HWA's Hughes lining up alongside the German driver on the front row of the grid while Pedro Piquet started in third.

Securing a strong start from second place, Hughes led into Turn 1, however, quickly fell back down to second when Zendeli repassed the British racer into Turn 3 to regain his lead.

Prema's Armstrong meanwhile moved into the podium positions by overtaking Schwartzman before the Russian racer quickly returned the favour, regaining third on lap four with a closely contested battle quickly emerging out on track. 

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Struggling for pace, Zendeli lost the lead on lap four, dropping out of the podium positions while Hughes briefly regained first before getting overtaken by Schwartzman and Armstrong to run in third.

Closely matched in terms of pace, Schwartzman and Armstrong ran in formation in what was a Prema Racing 1-2.

Searching for his first victory of 2019, Armstrong launched an attack on his team-mate on lap 20 to briefly take first before Schwartzman fought back, regaining the lead into Turn 4.

A late collision between Campos Racing team-mates Alex Peroni and Sebastian Fernandez saw the deployment of a Virtual Safety Car on lap 22 while the green flag waved on lap 23 to signal a one-lap sprint to the flag.

Searching for one last attempt to win, Armstrong again attacked Schwartzman into Turn 3, chopping in front of his team-mate before getting struck from behind when the Russian driver locked up into the right-hander, striking the New Zealander. 

Sitting in the background, Hughes shot up to second place while Schwartzman went on to take the chequered flag in first place, only to be handed a five-second time penalty for his final lap accident.

This handed Hughes victory while Jehan Daruvala inherited second with Schwartzman moving down to third place. 

ART Grand Prix's Max Fewtrell finished in fourth place while Leonardo Pulcini was fifth, fronting a 5-6 finish for Hitech GP with Race 1 winner Juri Vips taking sixth.

Unable to keep pace with the lead group of drivers, polesitter Zendeli took the chequered flag in seventh while Niko Kari took the final point in eighth place. Armstrong finished in 19th after picking up a puncture from his last-lap collision.