F2: Verschoor victorious in Lusail for MP Motorsport

Richard Verschoor earned his eighth victory in FIA Formula 2, equalling the all-time win record after his Lusail Sprint Race success.

The MP Motorsport driver started from reverse grid pole position, but lost out to fellow front-row starter Joshua Duerksen on the run to the first corner.

However, the Dutch driver was able to use DRS and slipstream his way back past in the early laps, before building up a comfortable gap.

That was eliminated after a Safety Car was called following a collision between TRIDENT team mates Laurens van Hoepen and James Wharton, that left the latter stranded in the gravel at Turn 1.

Racing resumed and so did Verschoor’s impressive drive, as he built up another multi-second lead over Duerksen and the chasing pack.

A late-race spin for Cian Shields closed the pack up once more, but the MP driver wouldn’t be denied, handling a last-lap shootout with relative ease to earn win number eight in F2 and keeping his title hopes alive going into Sunday’s Feature Race.

Duerksen finished P2 ahead of Rafael Villagómez, who rounded out the podium following a final lap pass on Nikola Tsolov at Turns 1 and 2.

Sebastián Montoya finished fourth ahead of Alexander Dunne in P5, championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli in sixth, while Martinius Stenshorne and Jak Crawford completed the points in seventh and eighth places respectively.

For a full report of the F2 Sprint Race, head to the official website here.