Campos driver Isaac Hadjar triumphed in the Formula 2 Feature race in Australia to avenge his lost win from the Sprint when he was penalised for causing a collision.
The Frenchman crossed the line ahead of the pack at the Albert Park Circuit for the second time, with Paul Aron and Zane Maloney completing the podium places.
Dennis Hauger had lined up on pole position and retained the lead at the start, but a brave move from Andrea Kimi Antonelli into Turn 11 saw him snatch first place.
Right behind the front-row starting pair, championship leader Maloney managed to execute a move on Richard Verschoor to take third, as Pepe Marti moved into fifth.
Victor Martins was on the charge once again and went from 21st to 11th in just a couple of corners, while Ferrari prospect Oliver Bearman rose nine places in total.
Antonelli had been unable to break clear at the head of the queue, enabling Hauger to retake the lead from the Prema rookie on Lap 2 and stretch his legs out front.
However, the Norwegian racer was on the radio on the fourth lap complaining to his MP Motorsport race engineer that he was struggling for grip on the Soft compound.
Hauger wasn’t the sole driver at the limit with their rubber in the nascent stages as both Marti and Maloney went off at Turn 10, while Martins almost lost his ART car.
The Medium compound was emerging as the stronger option, with Kush Maini producing a blistering pace to sweep past Maloney and Antonelli to progress to second.
That came right before the Virtual Safety Car had been called into action due to Joshua Durksen in the PHM AIX Racing heading off the road at Turn 14 with an issue.
Upon the resumption, the massive pace difference resulted in Maini claiming the lead from Hauger, triggering an immediate reaction that saw activity in the pit lane.
A high amount of the drivers in the top 10 went into the pits to swap to the Medium tyre, including race leader Hauger. Prema elected to double stack, while Campos decided to pit Marti and keep Hadjar out on track.
But moments later Hauger crashed into the wall at Turn 6 on Lap 11, prompting the intervention of a Virtual Safety car, then upgraded to a full Safety Car to clear up the debris from his MP Motorsport car.
This interruption helped Hadjar, who then made his pit stop and came out in seventh but ahead of Antonelli, who had been running as the leading driver to make their stop.
At the restart, the Campos driver managed to extend the gap to Antonelli while also dispatching with ease both Taylor Barnard and Roman Stanek, who were yet to pit, to protect his advantage.
Paul Aron had climbed through the order and passed Antonelli into Turn 11 on Lap 20 before Maloney was the next to pass the Italian driver for a net third on Lap 25.
Once Maini, Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa ventured into the pits on Lap 31, Hadjar was back in the lead, and he coasted to a 4.4s win over Aron in second.
The Red Bull Junior’s win marks the first success for Campos in F2 since Azerbaijan 2019 and a maiden triumph for the Frenchman amid his Sprint race heartbreak.
Maloney earned another podium finish with third place, ahead of Antonelli and Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata, who landed another top five-finish in his rookie F2 campaign.
The sole running MP Motorsport car of Franco Colapinto was sixth, but the Argentinian was disqualified post-race for “failing to engage the correct start procedure”.
Rafael Villagomez, Martins and Bearman were all promoted one place following this decision, along with Crawford, who landed the final available point at Albert Park.
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