Verschoor loses Jeddah F2 sprint win to tech breach, Hauger inherits victory

A championship statement said both Trident drivers "were found to have had an incorrect throttle pedal progressivity map installed prior to the race which was not in compliance with Article 8.2.6 of the Technical Regulations".

After passing reversed-grid polesitter Paul Aron, Verschoor survived a safety car restart to beat a fast-closing Hauger and secure his fourth victory in F2 by 0.700s after 20 laps of the Jeddah Corniche circuit, while Stanek was classified tenth.

But with both Trident drivers removed from the results, MP Motorsport driver Hauger inherits the top spot, marking the Norwegian's fifth victory in the category.

Hauger, the 2021 Formula 3 champion, moves up one place to fourth in the championship standings as a result of the ruling.

He is joined on the revised podium by Hitech rookie Aron and Enzo Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort Racing), while Kush Maini is boosted to the final points-paying position in eighth.

It marks the second time Verschoor has lost a podium finish to a throttle map infringement, having finished second on the road at Spa to Fittipaldi in last year's sprint race while driving for VAR.

Speaking after the race, the third for the new-for-2024 breed of Dallara that debuted in Bahrain, Dutchman Verschoor said: "From the first lap I had very good pace, I felt strong at the beginning of the race but also after all the restarts we did.

"To be fair I really have to give credit to the team for giving me a good car today."

Richard Verschoor, Trident leads Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The 2019 Macau Grand Prix winner, entering his fourth season in F2 and second with Trident after spending the 2022 season at the Italian squad, failed to score points in either Bahrain race after a disappointing qualifying left him mired in 16th on the grid for both races.

Maini will start from pole for tomorrow's feature race following the withdrawal of Oliver Bearman, the Prema driver called up by Ferrari to replace an appendicitis-stricken Carlos Sainz after topping qualifying on Thursday.

Verschoor will line up ninth, two spots behind Hauger, who revealed that he clipped the wall in qualifying which broke a wishbone and meant "I was basically driving with an incorrect steering wheel".

"It wasn’t showing our true pace on the last run," explained Hauger.

"We have had that pace and we showed it today. Hopefully we can make another step for tomorrow."