F2: Dennis Hauger takes first ever Feature Race win after Vips crashes out

Dennis Hauger scored his maiden Formula 2 Feature Race victory after a tense battle with Juri Vips in Baku ended with the Hitech Grand Prix man in the barriers.

Vips led from pole and only temporarily lost his lead to team mate Marcus Armstrong during the pit stop phase. Hauger, meanwhile, stayed out of trouble and put himself in contention for the win after two Safety Cars bunched the pack up. The second set up a dramatic ending to the race and a nip-and-tuck fight between Hauger and Vips.

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The duo led the field and quickly pulled away from Logan Sargeant in third. The Red Bull juniors were hardly separated on track, exchanging fastest laps while the gap hovered around a second in Vips’ favour, though he couldn’t break out of DRS range.

With just over five minutes remaining of the race, Hauger’s pressure told and forced Vips into an error. The Hitech Grand Prix man clipped the barriers entering the castle section and crashed out of the lead, allowing the Norwegian through for victory.

Williams Academy driver Sargeant held on for second, ahead of Championship leader Felipe Drugovich who took third, extending his lead in the standings to 49 points over Theo Pourchaire. The Frenchman sustained damage to his front wing halfway through the race and ended up outside of the points at the chequered flag.

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Jehan Daruvala made it two PREMAs in the top five, while Richard Verschoor secured fifth place for Trident. Enzo Fittipaldi kept up his impressive run of form, finishing sixth ahead of Mercedes junior and Baku Sprint Race winner Frederik Vesti. The Dane stalled on the grid in the Feature Race but recovered well from the back to score points in seventh. Marino Sato, Ralph Boschung and Jake Hughes rounded out the top 10.

For more on FIA Formula 2, visit the official FIA F2 website. For more on FIA Formula 3, visit the official FIA F3 website.