MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor led home chief title rival Alex Dunne to win the Formula 2 feature race and take the points lead at the Red Bull Ring
Starting from third on the grid, Verschoor prevailed in a three-way battle with ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins and Prema’s Gabriele Mini into turn one before challenging polesitter Leonardo Fornaroli for the lead further around the opening lap. Invicta Racing’s Fornaroli remained ahead, while Mini retired at the end of lap one with engine failure.
Saturday’s sprint race winner Pepe Marti surged from 13th on the grid to pass AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen for fifth. Having soon dispatched Duerksen as well, Rodin Motorsport’s pre-race championship leader Dunne challenged Campos Racing’s Marti before the pair made their mandatory pitstops on lap seven of 40.
Martins also pitted from third, and he was able to undercut his way into the net lead once Fornaroli and Verschoor made their stops during the next couple of laps.
By being the last of the leading runners to pit, Fornaroli slipped to a net third behind Verschoor, and soon came under pressure from Marti and Dunne. The trio squabbled for several laps, with Dunne eventually coming out on top.
Verschoor, meanwhile, reeled in Martins before snatching the advantage on lap 15 into turn three. Dunne caught and passed Martins eight laps later, the pair almost making contact during their dice into turn four.
By this stage Verschoor was 2.3s clear of Dunne, and the gap fluctuated as the duo fought their way past Trident’s still-to-pit Max Esterson. The Dutchman controlled the remainder of the race, eventually coming home 1.2s ahead of Dunne to gain a six-point lead over the McLaren junior in the championship standings.
Martins put up a staunch defence of the final podium spot for many laps before losing out when he was rear-ended by Marti into turn four. Fornaroli capitalised to sweep around the outside of Marti into turn six, and he held off the Spaniard in the closing stages to finish third. Marti was penalised 10s for his collision with Martins and dropped to seventh at the chequered flag.
DAMS’s Jack Crawford climbed from 15th to finish fourth ahead of Prema’s Sebastian Montoya, who recovered from an early issue to take fifth. The pair both passed Martins and Hitech GP’s Luke Browning late on – the Williams Academy duo embroiled in a frenetic scrap for several laps.
Browning prevailed on the final lap to take sixth, having started 17th, with Martins coming home eighth. Invicta’s Roman Stanek and Hitech’s Dino Beganovic completed the top-10.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett ran eighth early on before fading to 13th. Arvid Lindblad finished 14th despite a final-lap incident with fellow Red Bull junior Oliver Goethe, who retired in the gravel at turn three after spinning and becoming airborne on a kerb.
Duerksen suffered an early puncture and trailed home 15th, while ART’s Ritomo Miyata, Rodin’s Amaury Cordeel and AIX’s Cian Shields all joining Mini by retiring with mechanical issues.
Featured image credit: Formula 2 on X
