Enzo Fittipaldi took his first Feature Race victory for Van Amersfoort Racing in a thrilling Jeddah spectacle. The Brazilian pulled off an audacious three-wide pass for the win, while the fight for the final podium places ended in a drag race across the line.
Kush Maini bounced back from his Sakhir disappointment with P2 for Invicta Racing, while Dennis Hauger rounded out the podium by less than a tenth of a second for MP Motorsport.
AS IT HAPPENED
Maini got the perfect launch to keep the lead into Turn 1 while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was up to fourth for PREMA Racing. Out of the opening chicane, Josep María Martí was a first-lap retirement after a spin left the Spaniard with damage while Trident’s Roman Stanek couldn’t avoid the Campos Racing car.
The stranded cars required a Safety Car before the drivers made it round for Lap 2.
Back to green flag conditions, Maini retained the lead comfortably as he opened up the gap on his supersofts to Jak Crawford behind.
Entering Lap 6, Hauger moved clear of Victor Martins for fifth but lost out to both the ART Grand Prix driver and Campos’ Isack Hadjar on the main straight without a tow.
Having fallen out of DRS, Crawford became the first to pit for mediums at the end of the lap and he was followed in by Hauger, Richard Verschoor and Paul Aron.
Hadjar was on the move again, getting the better of his compatriot Martins into Turn 1 to take fourth on the road.
A fast-starting Juan Manuel Correa moved himself up to fifth with an ambitious dive on Martins at Turn 27 to round out a torrid lap for the Alpine Academy driver. He pitted on Lap 8, following Maini, Fittipaldi, Antonelli and Hadjar in for their mandatory stops.
Crawford lost out with his earlier stop as the DAMS Lucas Oil driver fell behind Antonelli. The American battled through with his tyres up to temperature though, clearing the Italian as they approached Turn 22 on the PREMA driver’s outlap.
