Red Bull Junior driver Ayumu Iwasa kept calm amongst the chaos in the Formula 2 Feature Race to take the race win from pole position.
Theo Pourchaire stabilised his title charge and took second place. Rookie Arthur Leclerc finished third, inheriting the position through a late incident between Dennis Hauger and Victor Martins.
With challenging conditions across the weekend, the grid for the feature was somewhat mixed up due to the wet qualifying on Friday.
An incident between home hero Jack Doohan and Jak Crawford saw the Hitech driver in the wall and out of the race on lap 8, bringing out the first safety car. Doohan managed to rescue his difficult weekend, finishing the race in eighth.
The soft runners used the safety car to make their mandatory stop, with Frederik Vesti inheriting the lead on track in his Prema. The Dane used the alternative strategy to claim a fourth-place finish, narrowly missing out on a podium.
An unusual incident in the pitlane saw Isack Hadjar released into the path of Oliver Bearman, forcing the PREMA youngster into the pit wall and puncturing his tyre. The Briton had a big off later in the race and ended up 15th.
The second safety car was brought out by PHM’s Roy Nissany, spinning into the wall of the second straight and wrecking his car. Teammate Brad Benavides finished the race in 13th, and PHM is still to score a point.
Enzo Fittipaldi crashed out of the race under safety car conditions. His suspension failed from an earlier spin, narrowly avoiding the stationary Nissany as he spun.
His Rodin Carlin teammate Zane Maloney had a consistent weekend, finishing fifth in the sprint and feature races.
Dennis Hauger was on for a strong finish after starting tenth and climbing to fourth until he collided with Hadjar, ending both their races prematurely. Hauger’s MP teammate Jehan Daruvala took the checkered flag in sixth, earning solid points for his team.
Kush Maini had another quietly solid weekend for Campos, ending the feature race in ninth. After a positive start to the season, teammate Ralph Boschung had a challenging race, finishing outside the points in the 18th.
Despite a two-lap shootout at the end of the race, with plenty on low fuel and soft tyres, the top three kept it cool and retained their positions.
Iwasa takes the lead in the championship, Pourchaire in second, and Vesti in third. With three pointless finishes in a row, Boschung drops to fourth in the standings.
Formula 2 rejoins the F1 circus in Baku in four weeks for the fourth round of the championship.
