Hauger Gifted Win After Costly Mistake By Vips in Baku

After getting his maiden win the Monaco Sprint Race last time out, PREMA Racing’s Dennis Hauger has followed it up with Feature Race win on the streets of Baku after capitalising on a late Jüri Vips mistake which saw him clip the inside barriers at the Castle section.

The rookie Hauger makes it and all-rookie weekend with fellow FIA Formula 3 graduate Frederik Vesti getting his first F2 win in Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Hitech Grand Prix’s Vips led for most of the race and looked comfortable out front ahead of Hauger who jumped into second place after undercutting Liam Lawson in the early pit-stops. The Norwegian driver did start to put pressure on Vips and close the gap before being gifted the lead after the Estonian’s costly error.

Championship leader, Felipe Drugovich took the final spot of the podium in after initially dropping down the order in the early stages. The experienced Brazilian kept his nose out of trouble and picked his chances at the Safety Car restart to gain positions. Speaking after the race, Drugovich said,

“Our expectations before the weekend weren’t that high. I would say the pace wasn’t quite there to do races. Of course, I could keep myself there, but I was really on the limit every time. At the same time, I was also trying to be really safe, because we’re focusing on the points now. I think getting a P3 here is extremely good for us.”

Carlin’s Logan Sargeant also had a successful day at the office, finishing in second place after starting seventh on the grid. The American driver ran a very clean race, stating that it was a “necessity” in the post-race press conference.

“I’d say we kept it clean, which was absolutely a necessity. I feel like my first lap was extremely good. I got up to fifth and then from there, I just tried to execute the best race I could and have good pace. We had a good pitstop as well, so it all just seemed to come together.”

Due to the late incident, the race ended under the Safety Car once the one hour of allotted time had trickled out. Hauger’s team-mate, Jehan Daruvala finished in fourth position with Trident’s Richard Verschoor completing the top five.

Another podium for Drugovich means he stretches and extremely comfortable forty-nine point lead on second place man, Théo Pourchaire. The ART Grand Prix driver finished outside the points after contact on the second Safety Car restart and required a change of front-wing.

After three rounds in the last four weeks, the F2 grid now gets a three-week break until the next round at Silverstone. The only current driver to win at the British track is Richard Verschoor who won last season’s Sprint Race 2.

POS	NUM	NAME	NAT	TEAM	TIME
1	1	Dennis Hauger	NOR	PREMA Racing	1:03:29.334
2	6	Logan Sargeant	USA	Carlin	+0.492
3	11	Felipe Drugovich	BRA	MP Motorsport	+0.946
4	2	Jehan Daruvala	IND	PREMA Racing	+1.664
5	20	Richard Verschoor	NLD	Trident	+2.776
6	22	Enzo Fittipaldi	BRA	Charouz Racing System	+2.970
7	9	Frederik Vesti	DNK	ART Grand Prix	+3.149
8	4	Marino Sato	JPN	Virtuosi Racing	+4.791
9	15	Ralph Boschung	CHE	Campos Racing	+4.911
10	24	Jake Hughes	GBR	Van Amersfoort Racing	+5.263
11	10	Théo Pourchaire	FRA	ART Grand Prix	+5.307
12	7	Marcus Armstrong	NZL	Hitech Grand Prix	+6.015
13	3	Jack Doohan	AUS	Virtuosi Racing	+6.902
14	17	Ayumu Iwasa	JPN	DAMS	+7.279
15	5	Liam Lawson	NZL	Carlin	+11.575
16	21	Calan Williams	AUS	Trident	+12.198
17	8	Jüri Vips	EST	Hitech Grand Prix	DNF
18	16	Roy Nissany	ISR	DAMS	DNF
19	23	Cem Bölükbasi	TUR	Charouz Racing System	DNF
20	12	Clément Novalak	FRA	MP Motorsport	DNF
21	25	Amaury Cordeel	BEL	Van Amersfoort Racing	DNF
22	14	Olli Caldwell	GBR	Campos Racing	DNF

F2: Baku – Feature Race Classification