F2: Verschoor won the Saturday sprint in Qatar.
Richard Fershor won Saturday's Formula 2 sprint race in Qatar. Joining him on the podium were Joshua Duerksen and Rafael Villagomes. For the MP Motorsport driver the victory was his fourth of the season.
At the start the pole-sitter Fershor made a hesitant launch and on the run to the first corner relinquished the lead, allowing Duerksen through.
Nikolа Tsolov overtook Rafael Villagomes in the fight for third place. Viktor Marten lost two positions, dropping back to 10th. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli rose from ninth to eighth. His closest rival in the standings, Jack Crawford, gained four places and moved up to 11th. Luke Browning remained eighteenth.
In the opening laps Duerksen could not break away from Fershor, and on the fourth of twenty-three laps Richard launched an attack and regained the lead he had lost at the start at the first corner. Once on an empty track, Fershor immediately put in the fastest lap.
By lap six the pack had stretched out along the circuit and the drivers made no aggressive moves, preserving their tyres and waiting for rivals to have tyre problems.
For the next five laps drivers held position, and on lap twelve Arvid Lindblad passed Oliver Goethe in the battle for fourteenth. Up front Marten made a mistake and ran wide off the track. The ART driver fell behind Crawford, Beganovich and Maini, rejoining the race in thirteenth. By lap fourteen Browning was able to overcome the resistance of Ritomo Miyata in the fight for seventeenth.
On lap fourteen there was contact at the first corner between Laurens van Hoopen and James Whorton. As a result Whorton was left in the gravel with a broken suspension, and the safety car was deployed.
Several drivers took advantage of the situation — Stanek, Lindblad, Goethe, Maini, Browning, Bennett and Shields — and came into the pits for soft tyres. However, a lap after leaving the pits Maini stopped off the track because the mechanics had not secured a wheel on his car.
The restart was given on lap seventeen and was calm — the top ten all kept their positions. Fershor began to pull away from the pack and set a new fastest lap — 1:40.164.
On lap twenty the safety car was deployed for a second time. The cause was Kin Shields, who lost control of his car, touched the gravel and, after spinning, stopped off the track.
Shields' car took quite some time to evacuate, so the restart was given on the final lap. Villagomes attacked Tsolov for third and forced his rival off the track. Rafael moved up to third, while Tsolov dropped back to tenth.
Richard Fershor took the win. The ten points for the win and the extra point for fastest lap moved him up to third in the standings, ahead of Luke Browning.
Joshua Duerksen finished second and reached the podium for the sixth time this season. Rafael Villagomes' third place equals his best result of the season. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli finished sixth. Second-placed Jack Crawford ended the sprint in eighth.
Driver
Team
Time
Gap
Laps
1. R. Fershor
MP Motorsport
42'36.481
-
23
2. D. Duerksen
AIX Racing
42'37.451
0.970
23
3. R. Villagomes
Van Amersfoort Racing
42'38.088
1.607
23
4. S. Montoya
Prema Racing
42'38.601
2.120
23
5. A. Dunn
Rodin Motorsport
42'38.828
2.347
23
6. L. Fornaroli
Invicta Racing
42'39.361
2.880
23
7. M. Stenshorn
Rodin Motorsport
42'40.414
3.933
23
8. D. Crawford
DAMS Lucas Oil
42'40.746
4.265
23
9. D. Beganovich
Hitech TGR
42'41.029
4.548
23
10. N. Tsolov
Campos Racing
42'42.971
6.490
23
11. V. Marten
ART Grand Prix
42'43.218
6.737
23
12. G. Mini
Prema Racing
42'43.511
7.030
23
13. R. Stanek
Invicta Racing
42'43.880
7.399
23
14. O. Goethe
MP Motorsport
42'44.209
7.728
23
15. D. Bennett
Van Amersfoort Racing
42'44.793
8.312
23
16. R. Miyata
ART Grand Prix
42'45.429
8.948
23
17. L. Browning
Hitech TGR
42'46.440
9.959
23
18. A. Lindblad
Campos Racing
42'46.549
10.068
23
19. L. van Hoopen
Trident
42'46.645
10.164
23
-. K. Shields
AIX Racing
34'16.222
Retired
19
-. K. Maini
DAMS Lucas Oil
24'20.306
Retired
14
-. J. Whorton
Trident
22'25.491
Retired
13
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