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F2 Saudi Arabia: Verschoor passes Aron to win Jeddah sprint race

Trident driver Verschoor put a score-less Bahrain season-opening weekend behind him on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to notch his first win of the year and continue his record of winning at least one race in each season he has contested.

It was Verschoor's second victory for the Italian team he rejoined over the off-season from Van Amersfoort Racing, having also won the first race of 202 for Trident in Bahrain.

Dennis Hauger was second for MP Motorsport, while pole-sitter Paul Aron made it back-to-back podiums for Hitech.

Following Oliver Bearman’s unexpected Ferrari call-up to replace Carlos Sainz in Formula 1, the British driver was removed from the F2 qualifying results. For the partially reversed grid sprint race, this had no effect on the front of the grid but promoted every driver from P11 up one place.

It took no time at all for the drama to unfold as the lights went out, with Aron chopping across the nose of fellow front-row starter Verschoor off the line. But the real action came behind the duo.

First, Williams Academy pairing Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) and Zak O’Sullivan (ART) both failed to launch from the line and belatedly started the race from the pits.

At Turn 2, Prema rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli tagged Jak Crawford (DAMS) into a half spin at Turn 2, with the former suffering front wing damage. Further ahead, Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins made contact with Hauger and hit the concrete wall on Turn 2's exit, his stranded car causing the safety car to be called into action. After three races, the Frenchman has yet to score.

After racing resumed, Verschoor made his move for the lead on lap eight of 20, using DRS to pull alongside Aron before outbraking the Estonian into Turn 1. The positions for the remaining podium position changed in an identical fashion shortly after, with Isack Hadjar (Campos) losing third to Hauger.

As the race reached half-distance, the safety car was again required to allow for the recovery of Amaury Cordeel (Hitech), who spun at Turn 2 but stalled his engine when attempting to rejoin.

Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix (Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd)

At the next restart, Verschoor caught the field napping and managed to pull out of DRS range, leaving Aron to defend from the hard-charging Hauger. With three laps left, Hauger finally got by with the use of DRS into Turn 1.

Behind the podium combatants, Enzo Fittipaldi duelled with Crawford and championship leader Zane Maloney, who had started in P15. The trio used the DRS zones to pass and re-pass in quick succession, with Maloney getting ahead of Crawford to finish fifth after Hadjar retired on the penultimate lap.

Crawford took sixth ahead of Antonelli, who had escaped punishment for his early contact with the Aston Martin junior.

Pepe Marti (Campos), feature race pole-sitter Kush Maini (Invicta) and Roman Stanek (Trident) rounded out the top 10.

F2 Saudi Arabia Race Results 

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1 Netherlands R. Verschoor Trident 22 20

-

           
2 Norway D. Hauger MP Motorsport 11 20

+0.700

0.7

0.700          
3
P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight
17 20

+1.500

1.5

0.800          
4 Brazil E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing 14 20

+4.700

4.7

3.200          
5 Barbados Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport 5 20

+7.400

7.4

2.700          
6 United States J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil 7 20

+9.100

9.1

1.700          
7 Italy A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam 4 20

+11.800

11.8

2.700          
8
P. Martí Campos Racing
21 20

+14.300

14.3

2.500          
9 India K. Maini Invicta Racing 9 20

+14.700

14.7

0.400          
10 Czech Republic R. Staněk Trident 23 20

+17.900

17.9

3.200          
11
J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing
24 20

+18.200

18.2

0.300          
12
G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing
10 20

+18.700

18.7

0.500          
13 Argentina F. Colapinto MP Motorsport 12 20

+19.100

19.1

0.400          
14 Japan R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport 6 20

+25.700

25.7

6.600          
15
T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing
25 20

+25.700

25.7

0.000          
16 Mexico R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 15 20

+27.300

27.3

1.600          
  France I. Hadjar Campos Racing 20 19

1 lap

           
dnf United Kingdom Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix 2 19

1 lap

        Retirement  
dnf United States J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil 8 15

5 laps

        Retirement  
dnf Belgium A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight 16 9

11 laps

        Retirement  
dnf France V. Martins ART Grand Prix 1 19

 

        Retirement  
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