Alex Dunne works the strategy to win feature FIA F2 race in Bahrain from Luke Browning, as Rafael Camara doubles up in F3.
F2 –
Fornaroli aced his start but wheelspin for Martins dropped him down to seventh by Turn 1. Dunne seized second ahead of Roman Stanek and Rafael Villagómez. The Mexican driver was able to sneak his way by for third at Turn 10, while Josep María Martí had charged up to fifth from P11 on the grid on Soft Pirelli tyres. Those running in the top eight were all fitted with the softer compound, Joshua Duerksen in P9 leading those on the white-walled Hard tyres on the alternative strategy.
That was until Lap 5 when Luke Browning took ninth from the AIX Racing driver out of Turn 4. After Martí had passed Stanek, Martins was on the move up ahead, taking fifth from the Czech driver at the Turn 8 hairpin. Having trailed by over a second in the early laps, Dunne closed to within DRS range of race leader Fornaroli approaching the pit window opening, half a second back in P2.
Onto Lap 6 and Martí looked to have a move done for third on Villagómez, but the Van Amersfoort Racing driver’s cutback out of Turn 4 allowed him to re-take the place. With DRS on Lap 7, Dunne took the lead of the race into Turn 1 from Fornaroli, who’d reported his tyres were beginning to fall away from him , Martí mirrored that move for third position a few metres behind the leading pair, while Martins took advantage himself, getting the run into Turn 4 to take fourth from Villagómez.
Lap 10 and Stanek was able to re-pass Villagómez with DRS into Turn 4 to move himself back into the top five. Martins was the first of the leaders to pit for Hard compound tyres, rejoining in P17. Stanek, Browning and Duerksen were all in on the following lap for their pitstops, coming back out behind Martins but ahead of Verschoor. Browning put his Soft tyres to good use, passing Stanek on Lap 15.
Fornaroli and Martí pitted at the start of Lap 16 for their mandatory stops, and left as they entered, rejoining the track between seventh-placed Martins and Browning in P10. Race leader Dunne was called in to respond to those pitstops at the end of the lap. He fitted the Hards and rejoined ahead of Martins with his lead intact. Browning was the lead driver on Softs and moved himself up to fourth at Turn 4 with a pass on Martí on Lap 18.
The Hitech driver’s charge continued, and he was onto the back of Fornaroli on Lap 21. He used DRS to take third down the main straight to maintain his progress up the order. Martins wasn’t able to repel his fellow Williams Racing Driver Development talent as on Lap 23, the Briton took second from the ART driver with DRS into Turn 1. The gap to the race leader stood at 4.5s with 10 laps to go.
Browning’s progress stalled out however, as the leader extended his advantage in the following phase of the race to over six seconds. Fornaroli’s hopes of a podium weren’t over, as he was able to close in on Martins in third. He was told his pace through the last corner was a strength, and he used it to good effect to get a run on Martins to take the place with five laps to go. One lap later and Martí was through on the Frenchman and into fourth with a 1.4s deficit to Fornaroli ahead.
He cut into DRS range entering the final lap and with DRS into Turn 4, Martí had the momentum but some stout defence by Fornaroli kept the Italian ahead. Neither could catch Dunne though, who earned his maiden F2 win by over eight seconds from Browning. Fornaroli held onto third ahead of Martí while Martins fended off Richard Verschoor and Dino Beganovic for fifth. Arvid Lindblad put in a strong drive to finish eighth from P16 on the grid, while Gabriele Minì and Duerksen rounded out the points in P9 and P10.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1911397610889375884
F3 –
It was a great start for Voisin who got ahead of Câmara on the brakes at Turn 1, while Charlie Wurz kept a hold of third ahead of DAMS Lucas Oil’s Christian Ho. Tuukka Taponen was also on the move for ART Grand Prix. From sixth, he got ahead of Bruno del Pino at the start, before overtaking Ho for fourth into Turn 4 on Lap 2. Onto Lap 3, Câmara and Wurz had closed in on the back of Voisin, with the former using DRS to get ahead into Turn 1.
However, the Rodin driver’s switchback move got him back ahead at Turn 4. Câmara eventually got ahead on Lap 5, making the same move on Voisin at Turn 1, the Briton unable to get ahead at Turn 4 this time despite his attempts to do so. Wurz and Taponen were now battling for P3, allowing Voisin and Câmara to disappear up the road. The ART driver eventually got ahead, later on the brakes at Turn 1 on Lap 7.
Further behind, Alessandro Giusti got himself ahead of Noel León for P11 at the same corner. He made a similar move at Turn 1 on the following lap on another PREMA Racing driver, Brando Badoer, for P10. TRIDENT then came on the radio to tell Wurz to stay with Taponen, but at the same time, his teammate Noah Stromsted was coming under threat from Ho and Tramnitz for P5.
The Dane fended off Ho, before the DAMS driver ran wide at Turn 2. This opened the door for Tramnitz to get ahead on the run to Turn 4. On the next lap, the Singaporean lost another position to Nikola Tsolov at the next corner. Another driver showing tremendous pace was Mari Boya. The Campos Racing driver overtook Badoer for P11 after starting the race down in 20th.
Tramnitz and Tsolov then got ahead of Stromsted for fifth and sixth, while Giusti overtook his MP teammate del Pino for P9. As Lap 14 of 22 started, Câmara was three and a half seconds clear of Voisin, who was 2.4s in front of Taponen. A DRS train had now formed behind the ART driver, with Wurz, Tramnitz, Tsolov, and Stromsted all in the fight for the podium. After trying for several laps to get ahead of Wurz, Tramnitz eventually got ahead of the TRIDENT driver by going round the outside at Turn 4 on Lap 17.
Taponen had been able to pull out a one second advantage due to the fighting behind him, but Tramnitz closed the gap before pulling off another move round the outside at Turn 4 on Lap 19 for third. Wurz had now dropped to P6 after being overtaken by Tsolov, and was coming under attack from his teammate, Stromsted. The Austrian was struggling on tyres and lost out to Stromsted, Giusti, Boya, Ho, and del Pino, and by the start of the final lap, was out of the points in P11.
Out in front though, Câmara was over six seconds clear across the line as he went on to win his second Feature Race of the season. Voisin finished in P2, while Tramnitz ended up in third for MP. Taponen was able to hold off Tsolov to finish fourth, while Stromsted ended up in P6 ahead of Giusti. Boya completed his comeback drive to end up in eighth, with del Pino in P9 and Ho taking the final points in P10.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1911369991682748664
Here’s how F2, F3 sprint panned out
[The story is as per press release]
