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Felipe Drugovich has survived a Formula 2 race which, at points, descended into chaos to put one hand on the championship trophy.
The Brazilian sits 70 points clear at the top of the championship table with just 78 left on offer from the remaining two rounds.
It is almost certain that the MP Motorsport driver will seal the crown at Monza next weekend.
Drugovich started well from pole and immediately covered the inside line to fend off Jack Doohan, while at Tarzan Logan Sargeant speared off the road.
Dennis Hauger slotted in third from Richard Verschoor in fourth and Ayumu Iwasa fifth.
The Safety Car was deployed as, in the pack, Sargeant left the road at Sheivlak – his second off within half a lap – to end the American’s race.
His retirement was triggered by contact with Ralph Boschung which plucked the front wing from his car and tucked underneath the front wheels.
The red flag was thrown as the field circulated behind the Safety Car on Lap 4 when it became clear the Tecpro barrier had been heavily damaged as Sargeant nosed into them.
A rolling restart released the field more than 20 minutes later.
Drugovich accelerated early to jump clear of Doohan to maintain the advantage out front with ease.
Doohan attacked Drugovich into Tarzan on Lap 9, the Australian locking his left-front heavily in the process.
In third, Hauger pitted on Lap 11 to complete his mandatory stop, his soft tyres replaced with a set of the hards.
Doohan dived in at the end of Lap 12, feeding back out behind Tatiana Calderon.
Drugovich covered off the Australian by putting next time around.
Doohan’s progress out of the pits was hampered by Calderon until she slid wide at Bocht 9, likely costing him an opportunity to use the undercut to claimed the lead.
Richard Verschoor fed out between Drugovich and Doohan when he pitted on Lap 15, though the Spa-Francorchamps Feature winner made his way by via the high line through Hungenholz.
A second Safety Car was called when Marino Sato found the wall at Turn 2 shortly after he exited pits, the left-front wheel making a bid for freedom.
It was bad news for those who hadn’t stopped, including Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong, and Frederik Vesti who ran in the top three places on the road.
At the restart, Lawson kept the pace low leading to chaos in the field; Doohan was fired across the wall into the inside barrier exciting Aie Luyendyck Bocht.
Novalak was also involved as others dived to the pit lane, with the Safety Car immediately redeployed.
Doohan was shunted by Verschoor as the field crawled out of the final corner, a victim of the slow restart which officials advised would be investigated post-race.
Racing resumed at the end of Lap 25, Lawson again heading the pack and still yet to stop.
Armstrong immediately dived into the pits to complete his mandatory stop and Lawson did likewise soon after.
When Vesti boxed at the end of Lap 28, with just over 11 minutes remaining in the race which had become time-certain, the pit cycle was complete.
That left Drugovich in the lead from Verschoor and Iwasa with the racing finally settling down.
It ran without further complication to the chequered flag, a total of 37 of the planned 40 laps completed.
Victory for Drugovich all but assures the Brazilian of the Formula 2 Championship.
Mathematically the fight remains open, but, in reality, it’s over; the Brazilian likely to claim the crown in Monza next weekend.
Verschoor claimed second ahead of Iwasa while title aspirant Theo Pourchaire claimed a single point for 10th place.
