Richard Verschoor would not be denied as the MP Motorsport driver made the alternative strategy work to earn Feature Race victory in Jeddah.
The Dutchman made the race-winning pass on DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford on the final lap, while ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins earned third position and the final place on the rostrum.
AS IT HAPPENED
Crawford covered off Martins from the front row, while Sprint Race winner Arvid Lindblad lost fifth to Alexander Dunne at Turn 4 after losing a battle with Luke Browning for P4 at the opening chicane.
Josep María Martí then relegated Lindblad to seventh on Lap 2, passing around the outside at Turns 1 and 2 as the Campos Racing teammates kept it clean going wheel-to-wheel.
Having been cooped up underneath the rear wing of the Invicta Racing driver for several laps, Browning used DRS along the main straight to take third from Leonardo Fornaroli on Lap 6. Dunne made a late dive to bump the Italian down another position into Turn 1.
Fornaroli, Martí and Gabriele Minì were in on Lap 7 for their mandatory pitstops and switched to Medium tyres. It promoted Verschoor into free air in fifth position, the MP driver in the highest-placed car on the alternative strategy having started on the yellow-walled compound.
Leader Crawford pitted on the following lap, as did Browning and Dunne from the top five. They rejoined in 11th, 12th and 13th places respectively on the Mediums.
Martins went one lap longer and was in for his stop on Lap 9. He filtered back out onto track in P9 and ahead of Crawford by less than a second.
Dunne and Browning went side-by-side into Turn 1 but the Rodin driver went deep into the corner and rejoined, baulking Browning and allowing Fornaroli to sneak by both for 11th on the road. The Irishman later gave the position back his Hitech TGR rival after instruction from the team.
The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to recover debris on track just before Martins and Crawford reached the first DRS zone of the lap, allowing the ART driver some respite with his tyres not yet up to racing temperature.
The VSC was withdrawn towards the end of Lap 19 and Crawford on the rear wing of the effective race leader. The DAMS driver used DRS to get alongside the Frenchman into Turn 1, and the duo went side-by-side all the way to Turn 4, before the American driver had to relent and file back into line behind Martins.
Crawford got a great exit from Turn 27 to set up the pass on the following lap, taking ninth on the road from Martins with DRS along the main straight.
Behind them, Browning had Dunne, Martí and Minì for close company and the Spaniard made the first move, diving to the inside of the Rodin rookie at Turn 27 to take P13.
After two previous laps of close quarters driving into the first corner, Martí cleared Browning for P12 along the start/finish straight on Lap 16. Race leader Verschoor meanwhile was carrying on nicely. He had a comfortable gap back to second-placed Kush Maini and continued to lap quicker than Crawford, with several purple sector times and fastest laps approaching 10 laps to go.
By Lap 24, the Dutch driver had a 26.8s gap over Crawford and the MP driver was into the pitlane for his switch to Supersofts. With a clean stop, he rejoined behind Crawford but crucially ahead of Martins in P4.
With four laps to go, Verschoor was three seconds back from Crawford. Across the line into the final three laps, it was down to 2.5s and onto the penultimate tour, the Dutch driver cut the deficit to 1.3s.
Through the first sector on Lap 27 and Verschoor was into DRS range on the DAMS driver ahead. Out of Turn 27 and he was right underneath the rear wing and across the line with DRS, Verschoor surged by for the race lead on the final lap.
The Dutch driver claimed victory with a redemption drive. Crawford was second ahead of Martins, who held off Fornaroli for the final spot on the podium.
Martí was fifth for Campos with Browning, Lindblad, Dunne, Minì and Maini completing the points down to 10th.
Richard Verschoor, MP Motorsport
“It was tough. I was doing 28 Qualifying laps. I think our pace was just very strong. To be honest, when the race started, I wasn’t happy with the balance. But the more the race went on, the car came alive. I think we were the fastest car on track even though we were on the opposite strategy. That was very positive. We had a very good pitstop as well, so hats off to the team, they did everything right today, and the pace was just there to take the win. I didn’t expect it, but of course I’m very, very happy.”
THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
With his victory, Verschoor takes the lead of the Drivers’ Championship on 53 points. Martí is second for Campos with 41 ahead of Fornaroli in third, as his strong start to his rookie season continues, now on 40 points. Dunne has 35 points in fourth as Browning sits fifth on 33 for Hitech.
In the Teams’ Standings, Campos lead the way with 65 points in total ahead of MP Motorsport on 59. Invicta Racing are third with 48 points, three ahead of Hitech TGR in fourth on 45. It’s then 10 points back to Rodin Motorsport in fifth, who have 35 points.
UP NEXT
The FIA Formula 2 has a short break before we resume action with Round 4 of the campaign around the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, from 16-18 May.
