The penultimate Formula 2 Sprint Race of the season delivered drama under the Lusail floodlights, as reverse-grid pole-sitter Richard Verschoor launched into a Safety Car-broken contest that ultimately strengthened his championship bid.
Despite qualifying 10th after a tightly contested session, the MP Motorsport driver lead the field for Saturday’s Sprint, as the top nine qualifiers – including Roman Stanek, Leonardo Fornaroli, and Joshua Dürksen – lined up behind him following the series’ reverse-grid rules.
The formation lap saw Verschoor lead the pack as they warmed up their tyres, with Villagómez and Campos Racing debutant Nikola Tsolov lining up on the second row.
At the lights, Duerksen immediately jumped into the lead, while Verschoor had a slower start and slotted into second.
As the opening laps unfolded, Tsolov moved ahead of Villagómez to claim third, setting the stage for an exciting start to the Sprint.
Early on, the two Invicta Racing drivers were locked in a battle for seventh, with Roman Stanek eventually coming out on top ahead of teammate Leonardo Fornaroli.
Their intense duel allowed Alexander Dunne to close in on Sebastián Montoya in the battle for fifth.
Meanwhile, further up the field, Duerksen led the race but was struggling with his rear, losing some balance as Richard Verschoor began closing in.
By lap three, Verschoor had set the fastest lap of the race and was just 0.4 seconds behind Duerksen, fighting through the dirty air that made overtaking tricky.
Meanwhile, in the battle for the podium, Tsolov was defending third from Villagómez, while Duerksen struggled to keep up with Verschoor, trailing by a second down the main straight.
By lap five, Duerksen was 1.3 seconds behind Verschoor, raising questions over whether he was struggling for pace or managing his tyres.
On lap six, he lost another six-tenths to Verschoor and came under pressure from Tsolov, intensifying the fight for the podium positions.
Luke Browning was down in 18th and had been told by his Hitech team to push hard and try to gain positions.
By then, the drivers had settled into tyre management, with little action at the front. At the same time, Fornaroli remained 0.6 seconds behind Stanek, and Martinius Stenshorne closed in even further in ninth.
Lindblad and Goethe, both Red Bull Juniors, battled hard for 14th place – neither gave an inch, but Lindblad emerged victorious.
Montoya and Villagomez both closed in on Tsolov, who soon had to defend his position in order to secure a podium finish in his first Formula 2 race.
Trident pair clash, sparking Safety Car
Then, on Lap 14, the race was shaken up. James Wharton and Laurens van Hoepen, the two Trident drivers, got too close to each other in Turn 1, which led to Wharton’s retirement – and Safety Car period.
This came at a good time, as all the drivers noticed that, as in Formula 1, the front left tyre was under heavy strain on the Losail track.
The drivers at the back of the field, from 15th position onwards, came into the pits, including Stanek, Goethe, Lindblad, Kush Maini, Luke Browning, John Bennett, and Cian Shields.
During the Safety Car phase, the next problem arose: Kush Maini stopped on the track, shortly after leaving the pits for new tyres on Lap 16.
As the race prepared for a restart, the leaders weaved to bring their hard tyres up to temperature, while further back Stanek began attacking from 13th but ran wide into the gravel briefly.
On Lap 17, Rafael Villagómez came under growing pressure from Sebastián Montoya for fourth as the soft-tyre runners looked to make progress through the field.
Lap 20, and the Safety Car was deployed again after Verschoor had built up a good gap over Dürksen. The Safety car was deployed after Shields spun on the track and came to a standstill.
During the first Safety Car phase, Lindblad made a mistake on entering the pit lane, crossing the white line, which will result in a penalty.
As the race prepared to resume for a final lap after the Safety Car came in, the field saw a burst of late action. Villagómez and Tsolov went wheel-to-wheel, with the Bulgarian losing out and dropping several positions.
Out front, Montoya mounted a late challenge for third against Villagómez, who managed to hold the position under pressure.
At the chequered flag, Verschoor sealed a commanding victory, matching the F2 record with his eighth career win and giving his title hopes a valuable boost ahead of Sunday’s Feature Race.
Durksen followed him home in second, with Villagómez securing third ahead of Montoya in fourth. Dunne finished fifth, Fornaroli took sixth. Stenshorne claimed seventh, and Jak Crawford captured the final point in eighth.
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