Liam Lawson made his opportunity count starting on the front row of the Formula 2 Sprint Race, bringing home a dominant fourth victory of the year at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Duelling at dusk with Richard Verschoor, the Carlin driver bided his time after an early Red Flag restart to slice past the reverse grid pole sitter. He’d built up an almost eight second margin by the chequered flag.
“Had a really nice race, managed to win, which is nice to at least have a win in the final weekend,” commented Lawson. “Obviously, the season hasn’t gone exactly to plan, but it’s nice to finish the year like this. Hopefully we can repeat something similar tomorrow.”
Felipe Drugovich mastered his tyre management to make a late charge onto the podium, ahead of Dennis Hauger and Amaury Cordeel, who secured his best Formula 2 finish so far in fifth.
After several nervous moments on the opening lap, Logan Sargeant kept himself out of trouble to hold off Jack Doohan for sixth. Roy Nissany’s strong start was rewarded, as the DAMS driver rounded out the points finishers in eighth.
It all comes down to the final Feature Race to settle the fight for the top three for the season. Pourchaire holds a 26-point advantage in second on 164 points, but the rest of the top seven are all separated by only 12-points. Carlin duo Sargeant and Lawson sit neck-and-neck on 138 and 134 points, respectively. Meanwhile, Alpine junior Doohan is fifth on 128, two points clear of Daruvala and Fittipaldi.
In the Teams’ Championship, it’s advantage MP Motorsport thanks to Drugovich’s podium finish. On 287 points, the Dutch outfit hold a seven-point lead over nearest rivals ART Grand Prix. However, with both their drivers inside the top four in the Standings, Carlin remain a strong contender in third on 272.
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