Heading into the F2 sprint at Bahrain, the top ten were reversed from qualifying on Friday. Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli took pole position, from Williams juniors Victor Martins and Luke Browning.
As a result, championship leader Joshua Durksen started from pole for the F2 sprint at Bahrain. Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic started alongside on the front row. Rafael Villagomez took his best F2 qualifying position in third, for Van Amersfoort Racing.
As it unfolded: The Race start
It was a steady start off the five red lights, with the front runners holding position. Alex Dunne and Victor Martins had an incident, with the former squeezing Martins off the racetrack in turn one. This put the ART racer on the backfoot for the rest of the race.
Dunne later reported having to take avoiding action from Trident’s Sami Meguetounif.
Sebastian Montoya, sporting a special Mumbai Falcons livery for the weekend, spun at turn 8, in an incident with Amaury Cordeel. The Colombian was out of the race. The safety car was called out to clear the stricken PREMA, in the middle of the slow turn 8 hairpin.
Cordeel later received a ten-second penalty for the collision on the opening lap. Martins and Esterson pit under the SC to change their respective front wings.
After three laps under the safety car, green flag running resumed onto lap 5, with the top three holding their positions.
Fierce battling between Dunne, Marti and Verschoor, no change of position. Marti eventually got past Dunne, moving into fifth, albeit off the track on the run to turn 4. The two switched positions once again, with the Irish driver moving up to fifth a lap later.
Middle stage of the race
While the top two battled fiercely for the lead, Verschoor managed to close up to Villagomez in third. The Dutchman then made his move into turn 4 on lap 10.
It took another lap for the lead to change. Beganovic, who had been hustling Durksen along, moved past into turn 4.
Meanwhile, Verschoor couldn’t break the 1-second DRS gap from Villagomez’s Van Amersfoort Racing car behind. This created a train of cars down to Meguetounif in eighth, who clung on to the final point for Trident.
Dunne moved past the VAR on lap 13, in a bold overtake into turn one. The Irishman then turned his attention towards Verschoor’s MP Motorsport ahead, chasing down a podium finish in the sprint.
Esterson’s torrid race ended on lap 16, the American stopping at the run off in turn 12. This brought out the second safety car of the F2 sprint at Bahrain.
The closing stages: A charge to the end
Sensing an opportunity, DAMS and PREMA Racing called in Kush Maini and Gabriele Mini for late pit stops. With both running towards the fag end of the grid, neither driver had anything to lose.
They were followed by Oliver Goethe, Jak Crawford and more drivers outside the points rolling the dice, hoping for a miracle.
The biggest question mark remained if those who stopped for fresh tyres would be able to challenge the points runners. Points were awarded only to the top 8 in the sprint.
With green flag running resuming on lap 19, Durksen snatched the lead of the race. Further back, the pack squabbled for the final podium position, with drivers getting their elbows out to maintain position.
Elsewhere, Luke Browning was forced off the track into turn 6, losing positions to Dunne and Villagomez. Nevertheless, the Williams junior found his way back ahead on lap 20.
Further behind, battles between those who pit for fresh tyres saw Goethe go around the outside of two cars, nearly causing an incident into turn 14, with drivers experiencing oversteer into the fast right hander.
Beganovic, meanwhile, challenged Durksen for the race lead. However, his desire to keep alongside the Paraguayan cost him two further positions to Verschoor and Marti. The latter, who started 11th on the road, climbed up to second.
Onto the final lap, Marti pulled off the unthinkable, moving into the race lead. Further behind, scrapping between the drivers saw Dunne break his front wing, bringing his day to a close.
Meanwhile, Marti made it two wins in a day for Red Bull juniors at Campos Racing. Crossing the chequered flag, the Spanish driver capped off his stellar comeback, winning the race by just one second from Verschoor, who snatched second in the dying moments.
Meanwhile, Goethe and Mini managed to grab points after stopping for fresh tyres. The former finished fifth, while the latter grabbed one point for his eighth place finish.
Race results
- Pepe Marti (Campos Racing)
- Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport)
- Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing)
- Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR)
- Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
- Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
- Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)
- Gabriele Mini (PREMA Racing)
- Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing)
- Ritomo Miyata (ART Grand Prix)
- Luke Browning (Hitech TGR)
- Amaury Cordeel (Rodin Motorsport)
- Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil)
- Sami Meguetounif (Trident)
- Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix)
- Roman Stanek (Invicta Racing)
- Kush Maini (DAMS Lucas Oil)
- John Bennett (Van Amersfoort Racing)
- Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
- Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
- Max Esterson (Trident)
- Sebastian Montoya (PREMA Racing)
