Author of an almost perfect sprint race in difficult conditions which he finished in second place, Théo Pourchaire was back for the feature race this Sunday.
While the weather was unpredictable the day before, the drivers battled for 37 laps on a dry track today for the feature race. Like yesterday, Théo Pourchaire appeared very comfortable on soft tires. Starting from fifth, the driver from Grasse gained two positions as the lights went out, placing him on the virtual podium. After 10 laps on the tires, he decided to pit to adjust his strategy. It was an almost rewarding choice as he caught up to the gearbox of Enzo Fittipaldi just ahead of him. However, in traffic, the French driver lost a lot of ground, being less comfortable on the hard tires. His opponents managed to more easily overtake the slower drivers ahead of them due to their adjusted strategies.
Seeing the podium slipping away in this second part of the race, Théo Pourchaire became more aggressive and reclaimed positions from Denis Hauger and Zane Maloney. But it was too late. The cars ahead, having started on an opposite strategy with hard tires, pitted to put on soft tires. This provided a significant advantage at the end of the race for these drivers who overtook the ART GP No. 5 one after another. Théo Pourchaire ultimately finished in 7th place and lost some ground to the championship leader Frederik Vesti, who finished in 5th position. Ahead, Oliver Bearman took the win and moved up to 4th place in the championship.
The next Formula 2 race will be in Austria on July 2.
The World Championship Standings:
1st: Frederik Vesti – 111 points
2nd: Théo Pourchaire – 99 points
3rd: Ayumu Iwasa – 82 points
4th: Oliver Bearman – 70 points
5th: Denis Hauger – 57 points
6th: Richard Verschoor – 50 points
