F2 Monza: Drugovich crowned champion as Vips wins sprint race

The MP Motorsport driver's race was ended at Turn 5 after a collision with Amaury Cordeel broke his suspension.

But with title rival Theo Pourchaire finishing in last place, having run wide on lap 14 as he tried to pass Liam Lawson for tenth before receiving a penalty, Drugovich took the title.

He is the first Brazilian to win the main feeder series title since Bruno Junqueira took the F3000 title in 2000.

Vips started third for Hitech behind Frederik Vesti (ART) and Logan Sargeant, with the Carlin driver having a poor start and dropping behind the leading trio, with Ayumu Iwasa moving up to third.

Drugovich's contact with Cordeel ended his race at Turn 5, leaving him to return to the pitlane to watch the title battle unfold.

Further back, Olli Caldwell (Campos) and Charouz driver Tatiana Calderon crashed at Turn 2 in an incident which will be investigated after the race, prompting a safety car.

As racing resumed, Vips snatched the lead from Vesti at Turn 1, which he held until the end.

Pourchaire lined up 14th and had failed to make any headway in the first few laps, waiting until lap four to make a move past Marino Sato for 13th. He made it past Ralph Boschung at Ascari later in the lap, up to 12th.

The following lap, David Beckmann, Cordeel and Liam Lawson were embroiled in a battle for ninth, with Pourchaire then clearing Cordeel for 11th out of the second chicane.

Vips was 1.4s clear of Vesti by lap six, ahead of Iwasa, Sargeant and Prema's Jehan Daruvala.

Clement Novalak (MP Motorsport) and Boschung made contact the following lap, with Novalak suffering a broken wing while the Campos driver's race was ended.

Armstrong took sixth from Verschoor at the inside of Parabolica, while up ahead Daruvala made it past Iwasa into third, with Sargeant dropping behind the pair. Iwasa continued to fall down the order, finishing the race in 16th.

Pourchaire's luck went from bad to worse on lap 14 as he ran wide onto the gravel at Turn 2 while attempting a move on Lawson, dropping him to 17th before he was handed a five-second penalty for causing the collision.

Verschoor made it up to fifth the following lap as Armstrong followed him through while Iwasa faltered, as Lawson passed Beckmann for ninth at Turn 4.

The order in the midfield continued to swap and change as Doohan made it past Iwasa for seventh at Parabolica, while a struggling Pourchaire cleared Calan Williams for 16th.

Lawson then passed Iwasa under braking at Turn 1 for eighth, before Beckmann and Hauger also passed the DAMS driver as he made a mistake at Turn 2, before also being handed a five-second penalty.

Lawson and Doohan tussled for seventh at Turn 4, but the Carlin driver held off his Virtuosi rival to take sixth.

Vesti held on to take second, his first podium since Paul Ricard, while Daruvala finished third in his seventh podium of the season.

Sargeant took fourth, having lined up second, while Richard Verschoor finished fifth for Trident ahead of Lawson and Doohan. Beckmann, Dennis Hauger and Armstrong rounded off the top 10.

Cla	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Jüri Vips	HitechGP
2	Frederik Vesti	ART Grand Prix	1.000
3	Jehan Daruvala	Prema Powerteam	7.600
4	Logan Sargeant	Carlin	9.000
5	Richard Verschoor	Trident	9.400
6	Liam Lawson	Carlin	13.100
7	Jack Doohan	UNI-Virtuosi	13.300
8	David Beckmann	Van Amersfoort Racing	14.300
9	Dennis Hauger	Prema Powerteam	14.700
10	Marcus Armstrong	HitechGP	17.600
11	Marino Sato	UNI-Virtuosi	19.100
12	Enzo Fittipaldi	Charouz Racing System	22.600
13	Luca Ghiotto	DAMS	24.100
14	Calan Williams	Trident	24.600
15	Amaury Cordeel	Van Amersfoort Racing	25.900
16	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	28.100
17	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	30.300
	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing
	Clement Novalak	MP Motorsport
	Felipe Drugovich	MP Motorsport
	Olli Caldwell	Campos Racing
	Tatiana Calderon	Charouz Racing System
View full results