Liam Lawson wins "steady and nice" Formula 2 sprint race at Spa
Liam Lawson stormed through the FIA Formula 2 pack off the start to take victory in the Spa-Francorchamps sprint race.
Liam Lawson celebrates his sprint race victory at Spa. (Formula Motorsport Limited)
The Kiwi started fifth but bolted off the line, passing the slow-starting Théo Pourchaire and settling into place behind polesitter Ralph Boschung.
Lawson made his move for the lead along the Kemmel Straight, and continued to pull ahead until the safety car made an appearance on lap 11 when Logan Sargeant lost his rear and skidded into the barriers.
When racing resumed it was no challenge for the Red Bull-backed Lawson, building his lead to 3.8 seconds by the chequered flag.
"Had a really good start from fifth and was second by turn 1," said Lawson.
"The first couple of laps, the car was really hooked up, managed to get by Ralph and then honestly throughout the whole race It was just really, really steady and nice."
The victory was his third sprint race victory of the year after taking the top spot in Jeddah and Le Castellet, the most of any driver so far this season.
As Lawson made his move past Boschung down the Kemmel straight, third-placed Théo Pourchaire dropped through the pack after a three-wide battle, with Richard Verschoor and Jack Doohan.
The Australian settled for third as he then made his way past Verschoor's Trident, but with the benefit of the safety car period and better late-race pace, he passed Boschung in the dying stages for second on the podium.
The star of the race was championship leader Felipe Drugovich, who made the bold call to pit during the safety car for fresh soft tyres.
He dropped from sixth to twelfth, but was reassured by his team that he would have a four-second-per-lap advantage over the field in front.
The advice was good, as the Brazilian blasted through the field to finish fourth.
Drugovich extended his lead in the Drivers' standings to 25 points, ahead of Pourchaire.
Lawson moves up to fifth, just one point behind Enzo Fittipaldi.
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2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship - Spa-Francorchamps Sprint Race
- Liam Lawson (NZ)
- Jack Doohan (AUS)
- Ralph Boschung
- Felipe Drugovich
- Richard Verschoor
- Theo Pourchaire
- Marcus Armstrong (NZ)
- David Beckmann
- Ayumu Iwasa
- Dennis Hauger
- Roy Nissany
- Marino Sato
- Enzo Fittipaldi
- Juri Vips
- Frederik Vesti
- Calan Williams (AUS)
- Clement Novalak
- Amaury Cordeel
- Tatiana Calderon
- Lirim Zendeli
- Logan Sargeant - DNF
- Jehan Daruvala - DNS
