Formula 2

VESTI BATTLES TO BRILLIANT JEDDAH WIN

Frederik Vesti took his first win of the season in style, claiming victory in the Jeddah Feature Race from sixth on the grid. The PREMA Racing driver had been fighting with pole sitter Victor Martins until the ART Grand Prix driver spun out of the race. From that point on, Vesti remained composed to secure the win.
Jack Doohan remained cool and collected to come through for a valuable P2 to get his season back on track. Jehan Daruvala made it back-to-back P3 finishes for MP Motorsport, rounding out the podium places.

THE RACE…
Oliver Bearman edged the start over Martins to take the lead into Turn 1. Doohan pressured his fellow Alpine Academy junior and settled into third behind. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed on the second lap to recover the PHM Racing by Charouz of Brad Benavides, the American pulling off after contact with Amaury Cordeel resulted in damage.

The VSC was withdrawn entering Lap 3 and Bearman scampered clear. The battle for second was hotly contested, with Doohan glued to the rear wing of Martins going back to green flag conditions. It was PREMA Racing 1-4 as Vesti closed on the podium battle while Bearman extended his lead beyond a second by Lap 6.
The first of the pitstops arrived on Lap 7 with Doohan dragging Vesti, Ayumu Iwasa, Théo Pourchaire and Kush Maini from inside the top 10 with him for mediums. The PREMA mechanics got their man out in front of the Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver to leapfrog Doohan for position.

Bearman and Martins followed on Lap 8 and the pair remained as they were on pit exit, a handful of seconds clear of Vesti.
Martins had closed prior to the pitstops and on Lap 10, got his chance into Turn 1 on Bearman. Millimetres separated the pair side-by-side through the opening corners. The Frenchman prevailed, but had to give the position back having completed the pass just beyond the track limits.
The following lap and Martins got his move to stick, taking the lead into the first corner with DRS. Their battling allowed Vesti to close and, after Bearman ran wide out of the second corner, his teammate sneaked through for second. The PREMA of Vesti began to pile the pressure onto Martins, setting consecutive fastest laps to close to within half a second by Lap 15.