The Estonian enjoyed a solid outing with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, finishing exactly where he qualified: 18th.
He went from start to finish without any interruptions and was the top finisher – and rookie – among the lapped cars.
“Awesome to get through the race distance,” Vips said. “Just wasn't used to how long the race is; the F2 races are much, much shorter.
“Being out of the car the whole year, it was definitely a test for me. I think it was actually a decent race. We avoided the messes at the start. The only real problem was the first stint and the first pit stop, but other than that, it was a very clean race.
“We need to see with the engineers what happened exactly, but we just struggled to get any rear tyre temp through the whole stint. Even at the end, it felt like the rears weren't in. We really struggled on the reds there.
“I think it was quite okay, kept it on the road. We completed the race. We're in the Leaders Circle [top-22 in points] now, so we did what we came here to do. It definitely wasn't the best weekend in terms of results, but now having the experience of this we can definitely build on a lot going into Laguna.”
Source: Autosport