F2 Abu Dhabi: Iwasa wins finale as Sargeant secures superlicence

The Japanese DAMS driver took pole on Friday before charging to victory ahead of the 2022 champion in Sunday’s feature race. 

Despite the MP Motorsport driver’s best attempts at passing in the final laps, Iwasa held firm to take his first win since the French Grand Prix. 

Sargeant now looks set to graduate to Formula 1 with Williams next season after a fifth-place finish was enough to secure him the necessary superlicence points as he took fourth in the drivers’ standings behind Lawson. 

Drugovich’s second-place finish secured MP Motorsport the teams’ title, with Carlin finishing second courtesy of Liam Lawson’s third-place result. 

Pole-sitter Iwasa led from the off and despite briefly slipping behind second-place starter and teammate Roy Nissany, the Japanese driver holding the lead into the opening laps. 

Theo Pourchaire lost a few places in the opening melee, with the ART driver falling behind Drugovich and Prema's Dennis Hauger. 

The yellow flags were waved briefly on the opening lap after MP’s Clement Novalak went off at Turn 9, with Ralph Boschung spinning after contact with Juan Manuel Correa, making his return to F2 with Van Amersfoort Racing. 

After a brief Virtual Safety Car period, Pourchaire jumped Hauger on the restart to take fourth down to Turn 3. 

Drugovich then passed Nissany for second at Turn 9 on lap seven as behind them, Hauger and Lawson were the first of the soft tyre runners to stop. Lawson emerged ahead of the 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion to run third. 

Iwasa then pitted from the lead, with Pourchaire joining him to take the medium compound Pirelli before the Frenchman emerged behind Lawson and Hauger despite a battle with the Norwegian driver. 

Drugovich, Nissany, Sargeant and Frederik Vesti pitted on lap nine, with Drugovich emerging in net second behind Iwasa, with Lawson and Hauger in third and fourth. 

By lap 12, Jack Doohan led among those yet to stop, with the Virtuosi driver building a commanding lead over Marcus Armstrong as Iwasa led those who had pitted as they moved through the field. 

Pourchaire made a failed attempt to pass Hauger at Turn 6 several laps later, with further attempts at Turn 9 before he finally made it past on lap 22 as the Prema driver ran wide. 

Doohan finally pitted on lap 25 and looked set to use his fresh tyre advantage to cut through the pack. 

But as he rejoined the track, his front left tyre detached, flying back across the track and forcing several drivers to take evasive action. 

He was forced to retire from the race, dropping him to sixth in the drivers’ standings. 

The VSC was briefly deployed for marshalls to recover the rogue wheel, and once racing resumed, Drugovich looked set to jump Iwasa, though the Red Bull junior defended strongly from the recently-crowned champion. 

Four laps from the end, Sargeant finally made it past Nissany for sixth place around the outside of Turn 9. 

Pourchaire then suffered a terminal mechanical issue, dropping him down the order and leaving ART unable to clinch the teams’ title. 

Hauger finished fourth after his battles with the Frenchman, with Sargeant promoted to fifth by the retirement. 

Amaury Cordeel finished sixth for VAR, with Richard Verschoor in seventh for Trident. 

The Hitech pair of Juri Vips and Armstrong finished eighth and ninth, with Nissany rounding off the points. 

F2 Abu Dhabi - Featue race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Gap
1	17	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS
2	11	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport	0.800
3	5	Liam Lawson	Carlin	1.300
4	1	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	13.400
5	6	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	14.000
6	25	Amaury Cordeel	Van Amersfoort Racing	15.700
7	20	Richard Verschoor	Trident	18.100
8	8	Jüri Vips	HitechGP	20.200
9	7	Marcus Armstrong	HitechGP	20.600
10	16	Roy Nissany	DAMS	22.100
11	9	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	22.700
12	12	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport	23.400
13	2	Jehan Daruvala	Prema Powerteam	24.200
14	22	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	27.600
15	4	Marino Sato	UNI-Virtuosi	28.200
16	21	Zane Maloney	Trident	31.700
17	24	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	32.400
18	23	Tatiana Calderon	Charouz Racing System	45.100
19	10	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix
20	14	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing
	3	Jack Doohan	UNI-Virtuosi
	15	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing
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