David Schumacher converted reverse-grid pole into his first FIA Formula 3 race win after an incident-packed Race 2 at the Red Bull Ring.
The son of Ralf Schumacher was four seconds ahead of the rest of the field when he took the chequered flag. A late retirement for Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins allowed title-rival Dennis Hauger to pick up another podium from 12th on the grid.
Schumacher led from the start with Roman Stanek in second ahead of Jak Crawford, Juan Manuel Correa and Kaylen Frederick.
A collision on Lap 2 involving Logan Sargeant and Tijmen van der Helm brought out the Safety Car for a couple of tours before racing resumed.
Lap 5 and Frederik Vesti overtook Jonny Edgar for sixth at Turn 3 on the inside, which saw the beginning of a charge up the order for the Danish driver.
Following the DRS being enabled, Crawford passed Stanek for second on Lap 9 before mechanical problems on the next tour forced the American pilot to retire.
At Turn 3 on Lap 11, Frederick made a late lunge on Correa, which saw both drivers spin round and pointing the wrong way. Both cars kept going but were well out of the points, as Crawford’s stricken car was enough to deploy the Virtual Safety Car.
After 12 laps, the top ten were Schumacher, Stanek, Martins, Edgar, Vesti, Enzo Fittipaldi, Jack Doohan, Caio Collet, Olli Caldwell and Hauger.
Hauger was immediately on the hunt after the race resumed by overtaking his PREMA team-mate Caldwell for ninth.
Further ahead, Vesti nipped past Edgar for fourth position at Turn 3 before lining up third-place Stanek on Lap 18 to go up into the podium places.
A couple of laps later, Arthur Leclerc’s astonishing drive from 27th on the grid, saw him up to eighth by not only passing team-mate Caldwell but capitalising on a collision between Collet and Fittipaldi.
On Lap 21, Hauger continued to impress by going in front of Stanek for fourth at Turn 4 around the outside.
More was to come with two laps remaining. Second-place Martins slowed on the start-finish straight with a technical problem, which saw him out of the race and losing further ground in the title battle.
Leclerc on the final tour was able to complete a move on Doohan to finish in a brilliant sixth place, making up a total of 21 places from his starting spot and bagging the two points for the fastest lap.
Schumacher won out in the end ahead of Vesti and Hauger. Fourth was Stanek ahead of Edgar and Leclerc.
Doohan was seventh in front of Fittipaldi and Caldwell, with Johnathan Hoggard picking up his first point in the series in tenth place.
The result of Race 2 sees Hauger continuing to extend his lead at the top of the championship standings, which is now 25 points over second-place Doohan, and Martins another six points adrift in third.
The final FIA Formula 3 race of the weekend will be on Sunday morning at 11:05 track time.
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