Theo Pourchaire (FRA) ART Grand Prix. 24.11.2023. Formula 2 Championship, Rd 14, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Friday. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] Copyright: XPB Images
Theo Pourchaire has been crowned the seventh modern FIA Formula 2 champion in a thrilling season finale in Abu Dhabi, won by Jack Doohan.
Frederik Vesti’s victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race brought the title battle down to the wire. Vesti had cut the deficit to Pourchaire from 25 points to 16 heading into the final round.
That meant that Vesti would need a minimum of third-place with the fastest lap to have a shot at the title while Pourchaire would need to fight his way through the field from 14th on the grid to defend his buffer.
The title contenders were split on strategies as Prema’s Vesti took to the grid on the Medium compound compared to Softs fitted to Pourchaire’s ART.
Polesitter Jack Doohan had an excellent launch off the grid to maintain his advantage off the line while fellow Alpine junior Victor Martins lost out to Kush Maini on the opening lap.
Vesti made slight progress on Lap 1, improving from ninth to eighth as Zane Maloney and Ayumu Iwasa squabbled over fourth place.
In the opening stint, Pourchaire was able to climb up to 11th before finding himself stuck in a DRS train behind Oliver Bearman. The ART driver would make his first stop on Lap 7, allowing him some fresh air to keep pushing in the hope of an undercut.
The strategy call played out perfectly for Pourchaire who jumped Bearman, Dennis Hauger and Isack Hadjar with the early stop. Sitting in P16 with the majority of the field still to pit, the Frenchman was in the box seat.
Frederik Vesti (DEN) Prema Racing. 25.11.2023. Formula 2 Championship, Rd 14, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Sprint Race, Saturday. – www.xpbimages.com, EMail: [email protected] Copyright: XPB Images
Bearman’s Prema began to smoke, leading the Briton to trundle his way into the pitlane to retire on Lap 18. His car came to a stop just metres from the pit entry line and became stuck in gear, requiring the pitlane to be temporarily closed as marshals continued to try and clear the car with the top eight all yet to stop.
Vesti pulled eventually stopped on Lap 23 for his critical stop, emerging in ninth place and crucially two seconds behind provisional champion Pourchaire.
Ahead, Iwasa and Maloney continued to squabble over net P3 heading a train which placed the two title rivals line of stern. Vesti, fitted with the Soft tyre had a massive pace advantage.
A massive lunge on Pourchaire and Maini into Turn 6 saw Vesti gain two spots in one, but he would lose both positions several corners later with no driver ready to roll over.
Pourchaire and Maini left the track at Turn 12 as the Campos driver found himself in the middle of a Titanic scrap between the two hopefuls.
The championship battle became a laps-long slug as the rivals continued to swap positions in the DRS zones, but the Dane solidified the overtake on Lap 28 as Pourchaire started to run out of tyres.
Vesti had improved to fourth ahead of Iwasa on Lap 30 as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed with 3 laps remaining when Joshua Mason came to a halt on the second DRS straight.
Despite the stoppage, Vesti found himself within DRS of Maloney on the final lap as he sent his Prema around the outside of Turn 9. The pair collided, sending Maloney into a spin and the Prema airborne.
Jack Doohan had run away from the field to escape to a comfortable victory 3.8 seconds ahead of Victor Martins. Vesti survived the contact to the final spot on the rostrum in his last F2 race.
Vesti may have managed to fight his way back to the podium but he had missed out on the fastest lap and Pourchaire escaped any late drama to finish fifth to secure the championship by 11 points.
Iwasa finished the season finale in fourth, while Arthur Leclerc sat sixth despite a five-second time penalty. Hauger ends the season with a P7 finish ahead of Hadjar, Maini and Zak Crawford who completed the top ten.
Keyword: Pourchaire crowned F2 champion as Doohan breezes to Feature Race win