First victory for Zane Maloney
A few hours after the satisfaction of Leonardo Fornaroli's podium in F3, Formula 2 witnessed the 3rd place for Josep Maria Martìimmediately protagonist at the debut in the cadet category of F1. The Spaniard from Campos, after a good comeback, was unable to do anything to overcome the excellent form of Zane Maloney, winner for the first time in F2 and also a spectacular rise to the top of the standings ahead of Jack Crawford. Only 14th, however, was Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who demonstrated (together with his teammate Bearman) the difficulties suffered by Prema on the Sakhir circuit.
Race report
Excellent start for Crawford, who maintained his leadership on the starting grid when the red lights went out, defending himself from the attacks of Martins and O'Sullivan. However, after the Virtual Safety Car issued on the second lap due to Cordeel's retirement, Martins attempted to attack Crawford, with the Frenchman failing to complete his attempt. Maloney, however, succeeds in his attack, with the Barbadian rider alongside O'Sullivan, giving rise to his comeback. Three laps later, in fact, the representative of the Rodin team passed Martins, and then took the lead in the Sprint Race after several attempts to overtake Crawford, who then lost ground to the new leader. On the other hand, while O'Sullivan and Fittipaldi gradually lost positions due to excessive tire wear, Martins also failed to defend the podium on the two Campos of Hadjar and Martì, thus slipping to fifth place between 16th and 18th lap. However, on the twentieth of the 23 scheduled laps, Hadjar also suffered an excessive decline in tyres, opening the doors of the first podium in F2, also making his debut, to his teammate. Nothing changes for Maloney, however, who wins his first victory in the category. Nothing to be done, however, for another rookie like Andrea Kimi Antonelli: having moved up to 14th position after the start, the Bolognese then opted to change tires in the first half of the race (as Bearman will also do later), without, however, being able to go beyond the 14th final place.
F2 / Bahrain, Sprint Race 2024: order of arrival
| POS. | PILOT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 23 laps |
| 2 | Jack Crawford | DAMS | +5.4 |
| 3 | Josep Maria Martì | Campos | +7.0 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | +9.7 |
| 5 | Paul Aron | Hitech | +18.1 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | +18.3 |
| 7 | Zak O'Sullivan | ART Grand Prix | +20.1 |
| 8 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | +21.0 |
| 9 | Miyata returns | Rodin | +21.4 |
| 10 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | +21.9 |
| 11 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | +23.8 |
| 12 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | +26.8 |
| 13 | Kush Maini | Invicta | +27.2 |
| 14 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Press | +30.2 |
| 15 | Joshua Durksen | PHM AIX | +35.2 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | Press | +36.2 |
| 17 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort | +56.1 |
| 18 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | +64.8 |
| 19 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort | +81.5 |
| 20 | Roman Stanek | Hitech | Withdraw |
| 21 | Taylor Barnard | PHM AIX | Withdraw |
| 22 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech | Withdraw |
Next appointment
In an atypical weekend which includes the Formula 1 race scheduled for Saturday both this weekend and next in Saudi Arabia (all this as a sign of respect for the start of the Islamic month of Ramadan), Formula 2 also anticipates the times. For the Feature Racein fact, the appointment is for tomorrow at 11:30 Italianwith the event live on Sky Sport F1 and streaming on NOW TV and Sky Go.
#Bahrain #Sprint #race
