Théo Pourchaire has found his way back to winning ways after taking his third Feature Race victory of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season in Budapest.
The Frenchman was followed to the chequered flag by Enzo Fittipaldi in second, who made his second appearance on the Hungaroring podium of the weekend, as well as pole-sitter Ayumu Iwasa who finished third.
The race was ultimately decided in the pit-lane with Pourchaire getting the jump on those ahead of him by boxing earlier and getting the advantage of the undercut.
As the five lights went out, it was Hitech Grand Prix’s Marcus Armstrong who got the best start of the leading drivers and plucked his way into first as the twenty-two drivers headed into turn 1.
Saturday’s Sprint Race winner Jack Doohan didn’t last as long as he did in his triumph the day before after being forced to retire with an issue at the close of the opening lap.
The championship leader, Felipe Drugovich, was the first to head into the pits on lap 7.
The MP Motorsport driver got rid of his rapidly degrading soft tyres for a set of mediums which the alternate strategy drivers were struggling to switch on.
The front three of Armstrong, Pourchaire and Iwasa all dived in a lap later while Fittipaldi opted for another lap on his grained rubber. The Brazilian put in an excellent lap to jump into the fight for the podium positions.
The Sauber junior started to stretch a lead on Fittipaldi during the home stretch to the chequered flag on his set of medium tyres and he looked comfortable until spots of rain started to appear in the latter stages of the race.
Drugovich struggled with grip in the final few laps with him dropping down the order into ninth place. Pourchaire’s team-mate, Frederik Vesti, had the opposite climb up the places with a drive from ninth to fourth on his last stint on the soft tyres.
The two Hitech’s of Jüri Vips and Armstrong finished in fifth and sixth respectively, ahead of Liam Lawson in seventh place.
Trident’s Richard Verschoor came home in eighth with Logan Sargeant taking the final points paying position in tenth.
Pourchaire closes the championship gap to Drugovich and he is now just twenty-one points behind the long time leader.
With the summer lock-down taking place in between now and the next round in Spa–Francorchamps, the Frenchman couldn’t have asked for a better way to enter the break.
“What a way to go on my holidays! It’s amazing, P1 here in Budapest in the Feature Race. Really happy, big thanks to ART for the strategy and also for the pit-stop, it was very good.”
“Very good race, clean race and a stressful race also at the end but I’m so happy and now it’s good to have a bit of rest and we’ll be back in Spa.”
| POS | NO. | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME (37 Laps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | Théo Pourchaure | FRA | ART Grand Prix | 58:56.681 |
| 2 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | +3.641 |
| 3 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +5.927 |
| 4 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | +6.760 |
| 5 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +9.624 |
| 6 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | +13.542 |
| 7 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | +14.755 |
| 8 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | +20.156 |
| 9 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +28.627 |
| 10 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +29.230 |
| 11 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +42.499 |
| 12 | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +42.805 |
| 13 | 23 | Cem Bölükbasi | TUR | Charouz Racing System | +45.736 |
| 14 | 24 | David Beckmann | GER | Van Amersfoort Racing | +47.459 |
| 15 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | +47.669 |
| 16 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +51.200 |
| 17 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +56.064 |
| 18 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +58.388 |
| 19 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | +1:17.981 |
| 20 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +1 Lap |
| 21 | 15 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Campos Racing | +3 Laps |
| 22 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | DNF |
