F2 Bahrain: Boschung claims maiden victory on 96th start

The Campos Racing veteran was untroubled throughout the 23-lap sprint race, leading from pole on the reversed grid before cruising home 10 seconds clear of second-placed driver Dennis Hauger.

Boschung had claimed four podiums across the past six seasons in F2, but the top step of the podium had evaded him until Saturday’s sprint race.

A fierce battle for second between reigning F3 champion Victor Martins and 2021 F3 champion Hauger (MP Motorsport) played out in the closing laps before second-year racer finally claimed the place on the penultimate lap 22, with ART driver Martins settling for third on his debut.

At the start Boschung held firm off the line, with DAMS driver Arthur Leclerc swooping into second and team-mate Ayumu Iwasa taking third. Iwasa then took second as the pair went side-by-side through the middle sector as Alpine Academy driver Martins moved into fourth around the outside of Turn 11 past Roman Stanek.

A charging Theo Pourchaire, who started 10th, had made it up to fifth by lap three, as Martins took third from Leclerc, both moves up the inside of Turn 1.

Alfa Romeo F1 reserve driver Pourchaire, who finished runner-up in the standings last season, then took fourth from Leclerc with the confidence expected of a third-year driver and set the fastest lap of the race as he continued his pursuit of Martins.

But disaster hit Leclerc when he was handed a 10-second penalty on lap seven, pitting to serve it and dropping outside the points, while fellow rookie Isack Hadjar (Hitech) did the same. Both were penalised for having mechanics touching the car outside of the permitted time on the grid.

Ralph Boschung, Campos Racing, leads Arthur Leclerc, DAMS, Ayumu Iwasa, DAMS at the start

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Martins claimed second from Iwasa up the inside of Turn 1 on lap 13, the Red Bull junior forced to back out of an attempt to reclaim the position as Pourchaire closed in behind.

But it was Hauger on the move - the Norwegian repeating Martins’ move on Pourchaire for fourth place the following lap, before setting about passing Iwasa, which he did on lap 15 after a huge lock-up from the DAMS driver.

Hauger then bode his time behind Martins before finally securing second at Turn 11, relegating Martins to third ahead of Iwasa.

Pourchaire settled for fifth, with MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala in sixth and rookie Kush Maini (Campos) in seventh.

Enzo Fittipaldi rounded off the points-paying positions for Rodin Carlin in eighth, with team-mate Zane Maloney in ninth and Juan Manuel Correa (VAR) in 10th.

Series favourite Jack Doohan (Virtuosi) ran on the alternate strategy, starting on the hard tyre, but failed to break into the top 10. Leclerc, after his early promise, finished 12th ahead of Stanek.

F2 Bahrain - Sprint race results

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	23
2	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	23	10.8
3	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	23	16.1
4	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	23	24.4
5	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	23	29.7
6	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	23	30.9
7	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	23	41.5
8	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	23	43.0
9	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	23	44.1
10	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	23	48.5
11	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	23	49.2
12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	23	50.1
13	Roman Staněk	Trident	23	50.6
14	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	23	52.2
15	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	23	53.7
16	Clement Novalak	Trident	23	54.6
17	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam	23	54.6
18	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	23	1'04.4
19	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	23	1'08.7
20	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	23	1'13.3
21	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	23	1'13.8
22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	23	55.5
View full results