A safety car with ten laps to go, after Arthur Leclerc lost a wheel from his DAMS, completely upset the end of the main F2 race at Spielberg on Sunday morning. While Frederik Vesti (Prema) was heading for victory after overtaking Victor Martins (ART GP) at the start, the drivers on an offbeat strategy took advantage of this Safety Car to pit and come out with new supersoft tyres.
The main beneficiary of this successful strategy is Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort Racing), only 11th on the grid and therefore winner in Austria, his first success of the season. The Dutchman, very touched by the death of his compatriot, Dilano van’t Hoff, on Saturday at Spa during a race in the European Formula Regional Championship 2023 by Alpine, did not fail to pay tribute to him after the arrival.
The Japanese Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS) also took advantage of the exit from the Safety Car to make a big comeback in the standings, finishing second when he was 16th on the grid.
Vesti, 3rd, stands out in the standings
Frederik Vesti, he managed to limit the damage when he was not on an offbeat strategy, and took third place in this 14th race of the season. And as his main rival in the standings, Théo Pourchaire (ART GP), was less decisive on the track, with 7th place, the Dane stands out in the standings, with 125 points against 105 for the Frenchman, Iwasa getting closer to Pourchaire with 101 points.
Lack of success also for Martins, who only finished 9th when he was on pole. Nice race on the other hand for Isack Hadjar (Hitech), who started 21st and 12th at the finish. As for Clément Novalak (Trident), he finished 13th.