Jehan Daruvala 6th, Kush Maini 7th; both Indian in points at Bahrain GP

Sakhir, 4 March 2023: Indian racing drivers Jehan Daruvala and Kush Maini performed well in the season opener F2 Sprint race in the first round of the FIA Formula 2 World Championship held on the F1 race-weekend here on Saturday.

Mumbai’s Jehan Daruvala of MP Motorsport finished 6th after starting from 11th, as he had a good start to P8 and later fought well with ART driver Theo Pourchaire but with waning tyres had to be content with the sixth. Meanwhile, the other Indian in the fray, Bengaluru’s Kush Maini, who began in P6, fell back and later recovered admirably to finish behind his compatriot in 6th place. Daruvala bagged 3 points to Maini’s 2. In Sprint races, the winner gets 10 points, followed by 8, 6, 5, 3, 2 and 1 points respectively for places 2 to 8. Only top 8 drivers get points. There will be 11 Sprint races and 11 Features races on Sundays for the season.

Ralph Boschung converted reverse grid pole into his first win in Formula 2 in an overtake-filled first race of 2023. The Campos Racing driver kept his lead out of Turn 1 and left the field behind him to fight to the end.

Experience counted for Dennis Hauger, and he claimed P2 late on, overtaking Victor Martins on the penultimate lap. The Frenchman opened his F2 account with a great drive from eighth on the grid to take the final podium place.

AS IT HAPPENED

Ralph Boschung kept his lead from pole while Roman Stanek bogged down in P2 and was fourth by the first corner. DAMS teammates Arthur Leclerc and Ayumu Iwasa battled side-by-side from Turns 3 to 6 for second, with Iwasa prevailing and taking the spot.

Martins compounded Stanek’s struggles, sweeping around the outside of the Trident car at Turn 11 to take fourth. A wide moment at the final corner to end the opening lap allowed Hauger through on the Czech driver for P5.

Théo Pourchaire was next through, sliding his ART Grand Prix car down the inside of Stanek at Turn 10 under braking, moving up to sixth having started 10th. It was synchronised overtakes for the ART pair into Turn 1 on Lap 3, Martins taking third from Leclerc and Pourchaire mirroring the move on Hauger for fifth. A dose of DRS on lap five got Pourchaire in range of Leclerc and a daring dive into Turn 1 gave the Frenchman fourth position.