2017 Jerez Feature Race

The 2017 Jerez Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2017 Jerez Race 1, was the nineteenth round of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Circuito de Jerez on 7 October 2017. The race, which was the headline race of the entire weekend, would see Charles Leclerc sweep to victory and the Championship with another dominant performance.

The Monegasque would start the weekend in perfect form, sweeping to pole position by a quarter of a second in qualifying. Luca Ghiotto, the star man from Monza shared the front row with Leclerc, while Sérgio Sette Câmara edged out Oliver Rowland for third.

Leclerc duly aced the start to pull into an immediate lead off the line, leaving Ghiotto and Câmara to try and block Rowland. Indeed, the Brit successfully dived past the Brazilian into the first corner, and almost succeeded in grabbing second from Ghiotto before the Italian grabbed a foothold through turn two.

All that allowed Leclerc to blast clear out front, with Rowland desperately seeking a way past Ghiotto to keep his slim title hopes alive. The rest of the field soon settled down behind them, with no major changes to the order coming until the leaders swept in to complete the pitstops.

Leclerc was in and out of the pits without issue, before Rowland and Câmara both jumped Ghiotto, who suffered a slow stop. All four duly began to slice their way through those on the medium tyres, with Rowland halving the gap between himself and Leclerc before the Monegasque ace re-claimed the lead from Nicholas Latifi.

With that the race seemed to be over, until a late safety car was required to untangle Santino Ferrucci from the barriers after contact with Nobuharu Matsushita. However, moments before the safety car was called Leclerc had managed to lap Sean Gelael, meaning the Indonesian racer was sat between himself and Rowland at the restart.

Ultimately, Gelael's unintended positioning proved enough to keep Leclerc ahead of Rowland, in spite of the fact that his tyres deteriorated badly on the final lap. Indeed, the Monegasque ace led home a fantastic brawl across the line to claim victory and the Championship, with Rowland just falling shy in second. Third went to Antonio Fuoco after a late charge on fresh tyres, with Latifi fourth after getting caught behind Gelael.

Background
With Formula One heading off for its final fly-away races of 2017, Formula Two headed to the Circuito de Jerez in Spain for its annual stand-alone race. Indeed F2 would be the headline act on the "Frontera", with support from the GP3 Series, as the title race came to a head at an unchanged Jerez circuit. There were, however, modifications to the entry list, with Álex Palou replacing Robert Vișoiu at Campos Racing, while René Binder stood in for Roberto Merhi at Rapax.

Into the Championship and the biggest winner of the Monza weekend would be Championship leader Charles Leclerc, despite the fact that he had failed to register a single point in either race. Indeed, with neither of his immediate rivals managing to score, the Monegasque ace could wrap up the title in the Jerez Feature Race with a race victory, regardless of the efforts of Oliver Rowland and Artem Markelov. They were therefore set to fight for second, with Luca Ghiotto having moved level with his Russian teammate, and seven behind Rowland.

In the Teams' Championship it was Russian Time whom emerged on top in Monza, the Russian squad leaving the Autodromo with a nine point lead. They were not, however, set to claim the title, for Prema Racing were the team in second with form man Leclerc, while DAMS had only slipped fifteen points behind in third having had only their second pointless race of the season. Behind, ART Grand Prix were set to claim fourth, ten shy of the 200 point mark, with Rapax their closest challengers in fifth.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * Charles Leclerc declared as the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship Champion.
 * Debut race for Álex Palou and René Binder.
 * Charles Leclerc claimed his sixth win in Formula Two.
 * Prema Racing secured their seventh F2 victory.
 * Also their sixteenth triumph at GP2/F2 level.
 * Palou and Nabil Jeffri claimed their first points finishes.

Standings
Victory and pole ensured that Charles Leclerc was declared as the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship Champion with three races to spare, with the Monegasque moving 68 points clear with 65 left to fight for. Indeed, in spite of his efforts in the Feature Oliver Rowland had failed to keep the hunt alive, and was now set to fight for second to the end of the season. Fortunately the results of the Feature had put him seventeen clear of Artem Markelov, with Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi also still in that particular chase.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing whom moved to the top of the table, winning the latest round of the eternal game of leap-frog between themselves, DAMS and Russian Time. Indeed, Russian Time had gone from first to third in the standings during the Feature, while DAMS had moved back to second, a point ahead of the Russian squad. Behind, ART Grand Prix were still in fourth, with Rapax inching marginally closer, while Trident and Campos Racing were set to battle for the wooden spoon.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.