MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger took his second Formula 2 sprint race win of the season in Hungary, while Frederik Vesti’s title advantage was slashed to one point.
Hauger triumphed ahead of Red Bull junior stablemate Ayumu Iwasa and Ferrari Academy driver Ollie Bearman. Pourchaire finished fourth after losing out to Bearman late on, while Vesti finished out of the points in ninth.
There was three-way battle for the lead at the start, with Hauger and Bearman moving either side of polesitter Kush Maini. Hauger snatched the advantage at turn one, while Bearman ran wide and lost third to Iwasa.
Into turn two, Iwasa sweft around the outside of Maini into second, while Bearman made a better exit a few corners later to pass Maini for third into the chicane.
Maini squeezed up the inside Bearman at the start of lap two to reclaim the position, with Bearman almost losing fourth to Pourchaire as he tried to retake Maini at turn two.
Hauger pulled out a 1.5-second lead in the opening laps before a collision further back in the field caused a virtual safety car period.
Clement Novalak lost control while trying to take 15th in turn one from Ralph Boschung, who was collected and sent into the barriers. Arthur Leclerc also made contact with Boschung while trying to take avoiding action but was able to continue, while Novalak joined Boschung in retiring.
Racing resumed one lap later, with Pourchaire making a swift restart to snatch fourth from Bearman. The order stayed the same until five laps to go, when Pourchaire dived to the inside of Maini into turn one to take third, a position that would have seen him draw level on points with Vesti.
But two laps later Bearman, who had also passed the struggling Maini, relegated Pourchaire back to fourth with a move into turn one.
Hauger dominated at the front to finish 4.2s clear of Iwasa, who came home 5.7s ahead of Bearman.
Maini went off the road as the cars approached the final lap, initially keeping hold of fifth, but then ran wide while defending from Jehan Daruvala, who profited to move into fifth. Victor Martins and Isack Hadjar finished close behind Maini in seventh and eighth.
Vesti lost one place at the start to run ninth, and then lost another place to Doohan on lap two. The Prema driver reclaimed the position in the closing stages from Doohan, who finished 10th.
Leclerc struggled with a loose seat but finished 15th, while Juan Manuel Correa was a lap down in 20th after pitting during the race with an issue.
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
