Martins wins F2 Feature, Doohan fourth in Silverstone

Victor Martins has taken victory in the F2 Feature race at Silverstone while Jack Doohan maintained fourth.

Martins survived a post-race time penalty to claim his first win, Zane Maloney second from seventh and Theo Pourchaire third.

Importantly, Frederik Vesti failed to finish as the championship battle between him and Pourchaire closed to just six points.

A slow start from Martins saw him jumped by Ayumu Iwasa by the time the field reached Abbey. The polesitter fought back, regaining the place at Village – a move that officials investigated for gaining an advantage after leaving the surface.

Doohan slipped to fifth at the start but, trying to move back underneath Fittipaldi at Luffield on the opening lap, unable to make the move stick.

Kush Maini had a poor opening lap, slipping from the opening row to sixth at the end of the opening lap, while Oliver Bearman ran third behind Iwasa.

Fittipaldi in fourth soon had Doohan applying pressure, Bearman heading a queue of cars from second back to Zane Maloney in eighth.

Doohan moved into fourth at Stowe, going around the outside of Fittipaldi at the end of Lap 5.

He then had a slide through Club, compromising his exit and leaving him vulnerable to a counterattack.

The Australian hung on before quickly pulling clear of the Red Bull-backed driver.

A lap later, Amaury Cordeel stopped at Stowe after spinning and losing the engine, drawing the Safety Car.

Seconds before it was deployed, several drivers dived into the lane to switch tyres.

Those who started on the soft tyres, but hadn’t stopped, did next time by trapping the early stoppers down the order.

Also caught were those on the alternate strategy, who gained track position but were yet to serve their compulsory stop while simultaneously having a tyre disadvantage.

The order behind the Safety Car was Isack Hadjar from Arthur Leclerc and Martins.

Iwasa was seventh in the queue, ahead of Bearman and then Doohan in an effective fourth but ninth on track.

Racing got back underway at the start of Lap 11.

Drama beset championship leader Frederik Vesti, with three cars having an incident before the restart.

Roman Stanek and Dennis Hauger were also involved as the Safety Car was immediately thrust into action.

Stanek was left pointing the wrong way at Vale, while Hauger had a broken front wing.

Hauger had nerfed Vesti as the pack approached the left-hander, pushing him into the hapless Stanek, who was eliminated.

The points leader pitted for a new front wing, rejoining 19th on a set of fresh hard tyres only to stop moments later with damage to his front-left suspension.

The green flag flew at the start of Lap 15, Hadjar again heading Leclerc and Martins to the line.

A mistake for Bearman at Abbey saw the Englishman slip from eighth to 11th, behind Doohan before losing another stop to Jehan Daruvala soon after.

Doohan rose to ninth a lap later, moving beyond Ralph Boschung at Brooklands.

An aggressive move from Maloney at Vale saw Iwasa pushed wide, losing out to Theo Pourchaire while Maini and Boschung came together behind them as the former was attempting to pass Bearman.

The Campos pair were eliminated on the sport, again drawing the Safety Car out of the lane.

Those who’d started on the hard tyres took the opportunity to switch to the softs.

That left Martins back in the race lead, but on the hard tyre, and also saddled with a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage on the opening lap.

When the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of Lap 19, Leclerc sat in a strong position on a set of soft compound tyres in fourth – the first on the alternate strategy.

The multiple interruptions had played in favour of those who’d started on the hard tyres after, in the early laps, they looked to have been heavily compromised.

Doohan sat second as Martins headed the field to the restart, Maloney second and Pourchaire third.

With 10 laps remaining, those on softs needed to protect their tyres to ensure they didn’t run out of rubber in the final laps.

Leclerc used his tyre advantage to move by Pourchaire at The Loop on Lap 21 and take third place.

A brave move from Doohan saw the Virtuosi driver pass Novalak around the outside at Stowe, despite the latter on the soft tyres.

It moved the Australian to sixth and in pursuit of Iwasa, repeating the move he put on Novalak a lap later.

After clearing Pourchaire, Leclerc’s charge was refuted by Maloney, his tyre advantage then quickly seeming to disappear.

The Monegasque was soon under pressure from the Sauber Academy junior as he struggled for grip.

The pair ran side-by-side through Stowe on Lap 24 but a wobble for Pourchaire meant he left the road and, though he didn’t make it easy, ceded the place back to Leclerc.

As the pair delayed each other, Doohan and Iwasa closed it to turn it into a quartet battling for the final podium place.

Pourchaire made the move down Hangar Straight, using DRS to breeze by well before they reached Stowe.

A lock-up from Leclerc at Brooklands allowed both Doohan and Iwasa through soon after, though the delay had seen Pourchaire extend a one-second advantage ahead.

Out front, Martins had extended a 5.3s margin as he ended Lap 26, an important margin as he faced a five-second time penalty.

Maloney had no answer, unable to lift his pace as Martins inched far enough clear to maintain the race win despite the time that would be applied post-race.

The Frenchman crossed the line 7.051s ahead of Maloney, who was second, with Pourchaire third and Doohan fourth.

The alternate strategy proved disastrous in the end; the soft tyres not suited to the conditions as Leclerc slipped to ninth.

With Vesti failing to finish, the championship battle has closed to six points while fourth for Doohan, on top of third on Saturday, is a healthy boost to his tally.