Frederik Vesti takes P6 in the Sprint Race at Spa-Francorchamps after a turbulent and drama-filled afternoon for the championship leader that sees him lose points to title rival Theo Pourchaire.
The Dane endured a mixed afternoon, starting in P9 he got an electric start off the grid and got himself up into P6 with a stunning overtake on Dennis Hauger around the outside of the long right-hander of Turn 10.
His sights quickly turned to Ralph Boschung in P5 and by the end of Lap 2, he was ahead of the Swiss driver at the end of the Kemmel Straight.
Jehan Daruvala’s headrest issue which resulted in him pitting and retiring from the lead of the race, promoted the championship leader up into P4. It was all looking good for Vesti as the Safety Car came into the pit lane at the end of Lap 4.
Vesti was unable to keep Hauger behind and lost the place on the restart, then he failed to keep within DRS range of Dennis Hauger and lost the benefit on Lap 6.
Victor Martins began to close in and started preserving his tyres behind, on Lap 12 he pounced and the pair had an epic half lap battle starting from the Le Combes Chicane, all the way until Turn 12 of Pouhon with Vesti keeping the place.
He then lost the place to Martins on Lap 15 into the Lec Combes Chicane.
At that point it was clear to see that Vesti was struggling and just didn’t have the pace that the others had around him.
Final lap of the race and Jack Doohan made his move, overtaking Frederik on the Kemmel Straight with the help of DRS and moved up into P6. Now the fast charging Ayumu Iwasa started to shape a move on Vesti.
Into the Turn 19 and 20 Chicane, Iwasa sent one to the inside on Vesti running deep into the corner, Vesti switched-back on the DAMS driver and even with Iwasa getting his elbows out on the exit of Turn 20, the PREMA driver finished in P7.
The Dane lost 5 points in his championship lead to Theo Pourchaire, as the Frenchmen finished in a superb P3.
Vesti recounted his afternoon and how him and his team are going to try and come back fighting tomorrow in the Feature Race where both PREMA’s start 1-2:
“Sprint Race done, We started P9 and finished P7, I was up to P4 at some point but I just didn’t have the pace today to fight and it was a bit frustrating to be honest.”
“I know we are good at turning things around and looking at data. We will do our best to improve for tomorrow where we will be starting 1-2.”
“Hard work, and hopefully we can have a good day tomorrow”
Image: PREMA Racing
