Marcus Armstrong dominated Saturday’s Sprint Race in round 8 of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 championship by leading from start to finish at the Red Bull Ring, ahead of Théo Pourchaire and Jack Doohan.
It marks the Kiwi driver’s second win of the season, with the first coming in the Imola Sprint Race earlier in the season.
Championship leader Felipe Drugovich kept up with his consistent results this season in fourth place with Juri Vips rounding out the top five.
With Armstrong starting on reverse grid pole, the Hitech Grand Prix driver got the perfect start when the five lights went out.
He kept Pourchaire behind him as the rest of the grid cleanly navigated themselves through the first few corners.
Just like in Qualifying, track limits played a huge part in the management of the race with the drivers fighting with their Dallara F2/18 to keep it within the confines of the black tarmac on the track.
Credit: Formula Motorsport Limited
The Virtual Safety Car was called out on Lap 13 when Carlin’s Liam Lawson came to a halt on the escape road out of turn 3.
The Red Bull junior’s day had already taken a turn for the worst after stalling it on the grid at the beginning of the formation lap.
Racing resumed once Lawson had managed to limp his Carlin car back into the pit-lane and the drivers treaded cautiously around the track to keep themselves from taking a dreaded five-second penalty which could drop them down the order.
Pourchaire teetered on the edge of getting a final violation with it being investigated after the race but was lucky to escape a post-race penalty and kept his podium position in second place.
With another win in F2 under his belt, Armstrong was ecstatic about being back in the post-race press conference after the race, “Good to be back in the press conference room with Tom [Clarkson] and all the rest of them! It was a good race.”
“It was stressful towards the end because I’m not really certain on the track limit rules, so I was just praying that I didn’t run off or do anything silly and just bring it home. It’s good to get it in the pocket.”
| POS | NO. | NAME | NAT | TEAM | TIME (28 Laps) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | Marcus Armstrong | NZL | Hitech Grand Prix | 36:38.856 |
| 2 | 10 | Théo Pourchaire | FRA | ART Grand Prix | +1.098 |
| 3 | 3 | Jack Doohan | AUS | Virtuosi Racing | +2.169 |
| 4 | 11 | Felipe Drugovich | BRA | MP Motorsport | +5.053 |
| 5 | 8 | Jüri Vips | EST | Hitech Grand Prix | +11.972 |
| 6 | 20 | Richard Verschoor | NLD | Trident | +14.832 |
| 7 | 6 | Logan Sargeant | USA | Carlin | +15.291 |
| 8 | 22 | Enzo Fittipaldi | BRA | Charouz Racing System | +17.538 |
| 9 | 1 | Dennis Hauger | NOR | PREMA Racing | +19.337 |
| 10 | 17 | Ayumu Iwasa | JPN | DAMS | +20.891 |
| 11 | 2 | Jehan Daruvala | IND | PREMA Racing | +21.644 |
| 12 | 9 | Frederik Vesti | DNK | ART Grand Prix | +22.036 |
| 13 | 16 | Roy Nissany | ISR | DAMS | +31.700 |
| 14 | 21 | Calan Williams | AUS | Trident | +34.565 |
| 15 | 12 | Clément Novalak | FRA | MP Motorsport | +38.673 |
| 16 | 24 | Jake Hughes | GBR | Van Amersfoort Racing | +40.245 |
| 17 | 14 | Olli Caldwell | GBR | Campos Racing | +53.559 |
| 18 | 25 | Amaury Cordeel | BEL | Van Amersfoort Racing | +1:10.121 |
| 19 | 15 | Roberto Merhi | ESP | Campos Racing | +2 Laps |
| 20 | 23 | Cem Bölükbasi | TUR | Charouz Racing System | +5 Laps |
| 21 | 5 | Liam Lawson | NZL | Carlin | DNF |
| 22 | 4 | Marino Sato | JPN | Virtuosi Racing | DNF |