Prema Racing driver Oliver Bearman took the Formula 2 Sprint Race victory in Qatar after a late move on Championship contender Isack Hadjar.
Bearman overtook Hadjar on Lap 21 after he was overtaken by the Campos Racing driver on the second lap.
Hadjar fell down the order as Jak Crawford took second place ahead of Richard Verschoor, to complete the podium places.
Hadjar denied victory and championship lead
Formula 1 bound Bearman lined up on the reverse grid pole position for the Qatar Sprint race ahead of Hadjar.
Hadjar’s title rival Gabriel Bortoleto started from eighth on the grid and debutant Dino Beganovic went from sixth at the race start.
Pepe Marti was unable to take part before the race began due to an issue with his car, leaving an empty space on the grid as he was set to start the race from 11th.
On Lap 1 of 23, Bearman held onto his lead at the race start heading into Turn 1 from Hadjar as Victor Martins shot up to third from seventh on the grid.
Paul Aron made a great start as he made up three places in the opening stages to climb up to sixth place.
On the second lap, Hadjar was all over the back of Bearman’s Prema and eventually, he swooped past the British driver heading into Turn 9 and Turn 10 to take the lead of the Sprint race.
Immediately, the Campos driver pulled out over a second gap to Bearman.
Replays showed an incident between Rafael Villagomez and debutant Max Esterson at the race start, as the pair collided sending Villagomez spinning around.
On Lap 5, Bortoleto got past Beganovic for seventh and soon after Oliver Goethe slowed down as smoke poured out from the rear of his MP Motorsport car.
A lap later, Goethe pulled over at Turn 10 and the Virtual Safety Car was called out bringing a stop to the racing action temporarily.
The VSC ended on Lap 7 and Crawford almost crept past the ART car of Martins at the restart as he locked up attempting to make a move.
The battle continued into the next lap as Crawford applied the pressure heavily but he could not find a way past the French wall of Martins.
A DRS train formed behind the duo as Hadjar’s lead to Bearman was coming down from three seconds to under two seconds on Lap 12.
Hadjar and Martins both opted for the medium tyres whilst most of the grid went for the more durable hard tyres.
As Crawford and Martins continued to battle, their gap to the leaders stretched to over six seconds with 10 laps to go.
On Lap 15, Bearman had momentarily brought the gap down to Hadjar to under a second but Hadjar clawed back his lead over the Prema car.
Lap 17, Crawford finally got his man heading into Turn 1, to launch himself onto the podium places ahead of Martins.
Meanwhile, Bearman was once again within DRS range as he hunted the Frenchman down.
Crawford set the fastest lap and pulled away from Martins, who slipped behind Verschoor.
At the same time, Bortoleto tried to go around Aron but was forced wide by the Estonian driver.
Beganovic, who was on for a single point on his F2 debut, fell down the order to 13th after being clipped by Ritomo Miyata.
Before the incident, Aron and Bortoleto got past Martins with the Brazillian driver now in sixth place.
On Lap 21, the lead changed after Bearman had superior pace over Hadjar heading into Turn 1 and made the pass for the race lead.
Afterwards, the title contender spun around whilst struggling on his worn-out mediums and dropped even further down the order into fourth place.
Kimi Antonelli and Kush Maini made contact on the same lap with both drivers forced to pull over to the side, bringing out the Safety Car with two laps to go.
After a chaotic lap, Verschoor had inherited the final podium place behind Crawford in second.
Unable to clear both cars in time, the race ended with the SC out as Bearman clinched his third win of the season.
Crawford finished second after a multiple-lap battle with Martins and Verschoor earned a podium finish in the Sprint.
Hadjar limped home in fourth ahead of Aron in fifth and his championship rival Bortoleto finished sixth, as the Invicta Racing driver held onto his lead in the Drivers’ Standings.
Miyata claimed seventh and Zane Maloney, who started the weekend in third in the Drivers’ Standings, completed the top eight to take a single point.
Martins eventually managed to hold onto a top-10 finish behind Joshua Durksen in ninth.
After the race, Aron and Miyata were handed penalties for separate incidents, dropping Aron down to seventh and Miyata to 13th.
Bortoleto and Maloney were bumped up to fifth and sixth respectively, with Durksen claiming the final point.
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