Frederik Vesti revitalised his Formula 2 championship challenge by resisting late pressure from Victor Martins to win the Sprint Race at Monza.
Verschoor held onto the final podium place, denying Theo Pourchaire a place on the rostrum from 10th on the grid.
The long run down to Turn 1 always offers the drivers an early opportunity to make up ground and Vesti made a storming start to create a three-wide situation with Ralph Boschung and Richard Verschoor.
Boschung, situated in the middle of that fight, locked up and headed down the escape road, leaving Verschoor and Vesti to scrap it out on the way down to the Variante della Roggia chicane. Vesti prevailed in front, snatching the lead from third on the grid.
Meanwhile, his title rival, Pourchaire, was fortunate to avoid damaging his front wing at the first chicane but he still managed to exit the opening sequence of corners with a two-place gain to eighth.
However, the racing action was brought to an instant halt at the end of Lap 1, with Amaury Cordeel stopping on track at the Ascari chicane after being spun around by Zane Maloney to bring out the Safety Car.
Vesti maintained his advantage as the race resumed at the end of Lap 4. But Boschung, nursing heavily flat spotted tyres from his first turn mishap, was unable to arrest his plight down the order, dropping to the tail end before stopping for a change of rubber.
Pourchaire’s charge through the pack continued with a move on Isack Hadjar to rise to sixth, with the Frenchman immediately switching his attention to pursuing Jak Crawford. The Red Bull-backed driver was able to resist Pourchaire for one lap before the ART racer made his way past.
Further up the road, Victor Martins propelled his way into the podium places, diving down the inside of Kush Maini into Turn 1 with a confident move on the brakes.
Enzo Fittipaldi was demoted backwards by the Ferrari Academy duo of Oliver Bearman and Arthur Leclerc, with the former cleared over earlier contact at the first chicane.
Having clocked the fastest lap of the race, Martins was again the last man on the brakes to seize second from Verschoor.
The 2022 Formula 3 champion’s hopes of mounting an attack on Vesti for the win were then handed a major boost by the Safety Car being deployed for the second time when Roy Nissany was stranded at the della Roggia chicane. Replays proceeded to show he had been pinched at the apex by Juan Manuel Correa, sending him into a spin.
For the second time, Vesti executed an exceptional restart, leaving Martins to fend off Verschoor for second rather than mounting an overtake for the lead.
Pourchaire had appeared under immense pressure from Crawford into the della Roggia chicane, but he turned defence into attack in the blink of an eye by diving past Maini.
Dennis Hauger’s hopes of scoring were ended on the spot when he was pushed into the gravel at Ascari by Hadjar, promoting Bearman into the final points place.
But the primary focus remained on the duel at the front between Vesti and Martins as the race headed into its final lap.
Despite his best attempts, Martins was unable to stop Vesti from triumphing for the fifth time this year. Verschoor beat Pourchaire to third, reducing the ART driver’s advantage in the standings to only nine points ahead of tomorrow’s Feature Race.
Maini came home fifth, ahead of Hadjar and Crawford. However, they were demoted out of the points after picking up five-second penalties for exceeding track limits, enabling Bearman to take sixth, with Leclerc and Roman Stanek completing the top eight.
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