Richard Verschoor dominated a pulsating wet dry Feature Race in Austria ahead of Jehan Daruvala and American driver Logan Sargeant.
Track limits became a significant story yet again as a plethora of drivers received time penalties including ex-F1 driver Roberto Mehri who lost a certain podium in the final few laps.
The championship contenders Felipe Drugovich and Theo Pourchaire suffered an arduous race with both drivers coming away with zero points in a poor event for the pair.
At a damp Red Bull Ring there were a mix of tyre strategies at the start with wet and dry rubber being used up and down the grid.
Frederik Vesti struggled off the line from pole position as Juri Vips jumped into the lead for Hitech ahead of Ayumu Iwasa in treacherous conditions.
Theo Pourchaire significantly passed his championship rival Felipe Drugovich at the end of Lap 1 to move into sixth position behind Jack Doohan.
Sprint race winner Marcus Armstrong stopped out on track two laps into the race in an agonising end to the weekend for the Kiwi after a collision. The Safety Car was deployed neutralising Vips’ early advantage at the front of the field.
The Safety Car came in at the end of Lap 4 as Vesti enjoyed as superb restart on the wet tyre immediately challenging the race leader into Turn 1 as the track continued to dry.
The Championship leader Drugovich dropped down the order six laps into the race costing him valuable positions as his main rival Pourchaire sat comfortably in the top five.
On Lap 7 the dry tyres became the preferred tyre as Richard Verschoor stormed into the lead ahead of Vips as he crucially found temperature and grip in the Pirelli slick tyres.
The Estonian dove into the pits along with the rest of the wet tyre runners including Vesti and Pourchaire as the wet tyre gamble failed to pay off.
As chaos ensued in the pit lane Verschoor built a comfortable margin upfront ahead of Jehan Daruvala and former Formula 1 driver Roberto Mehri.
The Spaniard moved into second place 11 laps in with a textbook move on PREMA driver Daruvala as the leader continued to relentlessly deliver fastest lap times.
Saregeant made yet more progress barging past his Carlin team mate Liam Lawson at Turn 3 to take fourth place. Fittipaldi picked up the pieces as the Kiwi went off the circuit in a solid drive from the Brazilian.Â
In the closing stages Mehri began to attack Daruvala for second position with five laps to go he got within the one second DRS window as the Red Bull junior’s tyres lost grip.
Jack Doohan and Liam Lawson received time penalties for track limits heaping more misery on them after a miserable Feature Race for the pair of Formula 1 juniors.
Mehri produced a superb pass at Turn 4 but received a five second penalty to break Campos hearts as a certain podium slipped away from their grasp.
Amongst all the drama Verschoor took a stunning win for Trident, his second win of the season ahead of Daruvala and Sargeant.
The Dutchman stopped on the cool down lap and didn’t return to the pits in his Trident after a pulsating 40 laps of action.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited