Richard Verschoor has won the Spielberg Feature Race in round 8 of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship in style after being the bravest starter on slicks during tricky conditions at the Red Bull Ring on Sunday morning.
The Trident driver, Verschoor, started in eighth place and climbed in the lead after the wet-compound starters struggled in the drying conditions, beating Jehan Daruvala and Logan Sargeant who finished second and third, respectively.
The Williams junior, Sargeant, benefited from a late track limits penalty from Campos Racing’s Roberto Merhi to take the final spot of the podium which also bumped the Red Bull junior Daruvala up and into second.
Charouz Racing System’s Enzo Fittilpaldi continued his stellar form to secure fourth with just half a second from standing on the podium.
Merhi was bumped down to fifth place after his penalty but considering the fact he was a last minute substitution for the Spanish racing outfit, he can be very happy with his performance.
When the five lights went out, Jüri Vips got the better of a poor start from pole-sitter Frederik Vesti who bogged down the order. The top two started on the wet-compound tyres with the grid completely split between the dry and wet compounds.
With the tricky conditions, it was no surprise that the Safety Car would make an early appearance and it did after Saturday’s Sprint Race winner Marcus Armstrong ended up facing the wrong way at turn 3.
By the time the race went back to green again on lap five, the wet-tyre runners had lost their momentum and the slick-tyre runners started to gain the upper hand.
Verschoor was the leading runner on the slicks and carved his way through the field and into first place ahead of Daruvala and Merhi who had found himself in second place after starting twenty-first on the grid.
The Spanish racing driver, who is standing in for an injured Ralph Boschung, then got the better of the PREMA Racing driver on lap 11 to take second place and set his sights on the leading Dutchman.
However, the Trident’s pace proved too strong for the rest of the grid, ending up a whopping thirteen seconds ahead of everyone else once the checkered flag fell.
It marked the Verschoor’s second win of the weekend and he had himself to thank for the race-defining strategy call to win, “Really happy to win that race. We took the gamble at the start, I called at the last minute to put the slicks on.”
“The first two of three laps were really tricky but we managed to keep position more or less and from there on out, we had a really good race and a good race pace so I’m really happy.”
| POS | NO. | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME (40 Laps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | 55:30.399 |
| 2 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +13.736 |
| 3 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +14.101 |
| 4 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | +14.615 |
| 5 | 15 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Campos Racing | +15.719 |
| 6 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | +20.100 |
| 7 | 24 | Jake Hughes | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | +24.238 |
| 8 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +26.253 |
| 9 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +27.246 |
| 10 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +27.973 |
| 11 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +28.543 |
| 12 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | +30.065 |
| 13 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +33.107 |
| 14 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +33.943 |
| 15 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | +40.861 |
| 16 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +43.050 |
| 17 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | +46.157 |
| 18 | 12 | Clement Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +72.707 |
| 19 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1 Lap |
| 20 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | +1 Lap |
| 21 | 23 | Cem Bölükbasi | TUR | Charouz Racing System | DNF |
| 22 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | DNF |
