A long and exiting F2 season came to an end today at the Yas marina circuit. The season started with Theo Pourchaire dominating the first race to win by 19 seconds as we all expected him to dominate the rest of the season. Little did we know this would be his only win of the season with others such as Jack Doohan and Fredrick Vesti picking up wins and challenging for the title. Despite not winning any races since March, Theo Pourchaire remained in contention with a consistent run off form, picking up podiums in most races leaving him top of the standings coming into this weekend.
But he still needed a clean race to secure the title from his rival Vesti.
Opening Laps
Jack Doohan held the lead comfortably in what is his last race in F2. Behind him Pourchaire had gone up from 14-11 Behind Vestis teammate Oliver Bearman. Vesti had started on the medium tires meaning that he would stop later than everyone else and go on a charge in the last few laps.
Mid Race
As the race settled down, the soft runners which included Pourchaire, came in to pit around lap 8 giving Vesti a clear road ahead to push and build a gap. Pourchaire emerged out of the pits behind Vestis teammate Oliver Bearman. Vesti would’ve hoped that Bearman would hold Pourchaire up, unfortunately for him Bearman pulled over with a mechanical issue. Elsewhere, Kush Maini was struggling as Iwasa and Maloney managed to pass him as they battled for 3rd place.
Closing Stages.
Vesti pitted on lap 23, coming out of the pits directly behind his rival Pourchaire. They had a great battle with Vesti overtaking Pourchaire into turn 6 as Pourchaire fought back and using the slipstream to get back ahead of Vesti into turn 9.
This battle would continue for another few laps with Vesti finally getting past Pourchaire on lap 27 as Maloney got passed Iwasa in the battle for 3rd. Vesti passed Iwasa for 4th as he tried to make his way to the podium and outscore Pourchaire by 16 points, which he needed to do to win the title.
But out in front, Jack Doohan had managed everything perfectly and cruised home to take a 3rd victory of the season and 4th in the standings. Behind him came Victor Martins who takes the title of rookie of the year title as he finished 5th in the overall standings. Maloney was desperately trying to hold onto 3rd place from a charging Fredrick Vesti. The two went side by side trough turn 9, banging wheels which sent Maloney into a spin and out of the points and promoted Vesti up to 3rd.
But it wasn’t enough to stop Theo Pourchaire who finished 5th to join the likes of Charles Leclerc, George Russel and Oscar Piastry, becoming the F2 champion of 2023!
Unfortunately for Pourchaire he doesn’t have a seat at any of the F1 teams for next year which would make him the second F2 champion in a row not to make it to F1. If rumors are anything to go by, he might be moving to America next year to drive in IndyCar, but today he is the champion of what has been an enthralling F2 season in 2023.
Feature Race Results:
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