The paddock arrived at Le Castellet for round 9 of the 2022 season, the penultimate round before the summer break. We also once again welcomed back super-sub David Beckmann, who replaced Jake Hughes at Van Amersfoort after the British driver tested positive for Covid.
It was far from a classic, but a maiden win was taken on Sunday which is at least something to write home about… Here’s the report cards for Paul Ricard:
Top of the class:
Ayumu Iwasa – Qualifying: 2nd | Sprint: 6th (promoted from 8th due to penalties) | Feature: 1st
DAMS’s latest hot prospect was in red hot form to match the temperatures in Southern France. The Red Bull junior cruised to a maiden victory in Sunday’s Feature Race. A result which was all set up with his strong qualifying performance on Friday.
Despite not getting a second run in, Ayumu was just 0.006 seconds off pole, ultimately settling for a P2 start for Sunday. In Saturday’s Sprint Race, the Japanese driver passed Logan Sargeant on track and crossed the line 8th before some post-race penalties pushed Iwasa up to P6.
There is little to say about Sunday’s race, as it was a bit of a snooze, but IIwasa took the lead into turn 8 on lap 1 from Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan (who started fourth) and never looked back. It was a dominant win too, as Ayumu streaked clear of the field and won his first race in F2 by over eight seconds.
The result was the French team’s first Feature Race win since Sérgio Sette Câmara took victory at the Abu Dhabi in 2019, and the resulting points tally moves Ayumu up to an impressive 9th in the Driver’s Standings.
Liam Lawson – Qualifying: 9th | Sprint: 1st (+FL) | Feature: 6th
It’s been a bit of a disaster since Saudi Arabia for Liam as he’s slipped from the top of the standings to 10th. Not that he is to blame, as car failures and being punted out of races were the main cause for his drop in the standings. His outing in France was a well-needed return to form for the Kiwi as he took his first win since the Jeddah Sprint Race.
He did have to work for it though. A sluggish start from P2 saw Liam drop to fourth, although he barged his way back through Championship Leader, Felipe Drugovich, to retake P3 on the opening lap.
Next, he set his sights on fellow countryman, Marcus Armstrong, and the Carin driver got by his compatriot at turn 9 on lap 4, before cutting a two second lead in five green-flag laps to take the lead off Prema’s Jehan Daruvala at the same corner. Liam never looked back and gapped the pack by over three second as he took his second win of 2022.
In Sunday’s Feature Race, Lawson made a better start to be running P6, again ahead of Drugovich on the opening lap.
Liam pitted late, owing to issues for teammate Logan Sargeant, and didn’t have the pace to retake a place on Felipe, but would eventually come home P6. The weekend’s results moved Liam back up to P5 in the Championship which is a lot more respectable.
There are only 5 rounds to go and the 94 point gap to the top is seemingly impossible to catch, but all eyes will be on a top 4 spot, which will be sufficient to qualify for that coveted Super Licence.
Frederik Vesti – Qualifying: 3rd | Sprint: 5th (promoted from 7th due to penalties) | Feature: 3rd
An impressive weekend for the Mercedes Junior. Not only joining teammate Théo Pourchaire on the podium on Sunday, accomplishing an ART double podium in their home round, but doing so with virtually no running in practice.
The Dane’s practice session lasted all of six corners before an electric fault caused his car to shut down. Which meant he was forced to go into qualifying blind. Where he pulled off an outstanding session to qualify P3, just 0.029 seconds off pole and once again ahead of his teammate.
Vesti was actually quite quiet in both races, but ultimately made progress from his starting positions. He avoided penalties in the Sprint to claim P5 and held off a late charge from Felipe Drugovich in the feature race to take his third podium of the season.
Vesti now sits in P8 in the standings, just four points off P5, but the qualifying pace is certainly reaping its rewards and the signs are pointing towards a positive final five rounds of the season. He played a key role in the teammate game to help Pourchaire. Having him so close to his teammate will be a great aid for Théo’s title challenge.
The struggle bus:
Richard Verschoor’s Trident
After losing the Feature Race victory in Austria due to a lack of fuel, the Dutchman was keen to bounce back in France to resurrect his season after a barren run of just 2 points finishes across the last seven rounds. Unfortunately his car had other ideas.
A decent qualifying of P11 was undone as the car stalled before the formation lap of Saturday’s Sprint Race, one of the three drivers to do so. It would take Trident five laps to fire up the car, rendering it a test session in reality.
Sunday was going better as Verschoor found himself P8, yet it wasn’t meant to be as he pulled off to the side of the pit straight on the final lap of the race after reporting something being on fire, losing that points finish. I’m sure Richard will be looking forward to the summer break to rest as his season has rather disintegrated since taking two podiums, including a Sprint Race victory in Bahrain, in the opening pair of rounds.
Enzo Fittipaldi – Qualifying: 14th | Sprint: DNF | Feature: 10th
The Brazilian is having a stellar season, but this won’t be a round he’ll want to remember. An average session on Friday left the Charouz driver 14th on the grid. On Saturday he would join the stallers club alongside Verschoor (and MP Motorsport’s Clément Novalak).
Starting on the soft tyres was a bold strategy, yet Enzo made up good ground to be fighting for P13 before an over optimistic move on Campos’ Roberto Merhi forced the Spaniard off at the Nord Chicane and left the Brazilian stranded in the middle of the track, only to be struck by the Van Amersfoort of Amaury Cordeel.
Both drivers retired from the race and brough out the safety car. Fittipaldi copped a (rather harsh) 5-place grid penalty for the Feature Race, dropping him to 19th on the grid. At least there was some silver linings on Sunday as he picked up a solitary point with a P10 finish, but he was rather reliant on troubles for some drivers ahead to achieve this.
The summer break is in sight with just 1 round to go before a well deserved rest for the paddock, as they are embarking on the longest season in the series’ history. Next up is the Hungaroring in support of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Once again, a full support bill joins F1 with F2, Formula 3 and W Series taking to the track in Budapest. Tune in on the weekend of 30th/31st July for a bumper schedule of racing.
