Ralph Boschung has ended his seven-year streak of finishing off the top of the podium, winning the first F2 Sprint race of 2023 in Bahrain.
Swiss driver Ralph Boschung cruised past the chequered flag 10.8 seconds ahead of second place Dennis Hauger. F2 rookie Victor Martins took third, with his teammate Théo Pourchaire gaining five positions to fifth behind Ayumu Iwasa.
At Lights Out
With the top 10 from qualifying reversed for the sprint race, Boschung lined up in first and kept his lead from pole at lights out. Roman Stanek slipped from second to fourth by the first corner, with DAMS teammates Arthur Leclerc and Ayumu Iwasa fighting for second. Iwasa came out on top of that battle, taking third.
Martins took advantage of Stanek’s issues, taking fourth at turn 11. A wide turn by Stanek in the final corner made matters worse, allowing Hauger through for P5.
Théo Pourchaire was next in line to push Stanek down the standings, pushing him out to take sixth place.
At turn one on lap three, the ART pair of Martins and Pourchaire slipped past their opponents. Martins took third from Leclerc, with Pourchaire taking fifth before quickly making a move on Leclerc and sitting in fourth.
Things went from bad to worse for F3 rookie Leclerc; a starting procedure infringement landed him with a ten second stop-and-go penalty. Isaac Hadjar was handed the same penalty – both drivers entered the pits on lap seven to serve them.
The battle for second raged on as Boschung extended his lead at the front. Martins continued on, making a late move on Iwasa at turn one to take P2, but the challenge rumbled on as Iwasa regained the position at turn six.
The Halfway Point
Boschung was three seconds ahead by the halfway point of the Sprint. On lap 13, Martins underbraked at turn one to pass Iwasa and secured the position by the turn eight hairpin.
Pourchaire, who was lying in wait, used the battle for P2 to his advantage, dicing to the inside at turn 10 in an attempt to pass Iwasa. Iwasa had a better exit onto the straight, retaining the position, and leaving Pourchaire defending from Hauger. Hauger, with DRS, took fourth from Pourchaire into turn one on lap 14.
Iwasa left the door open for Hauger to take third into lap 15 with a lockup in the final corner. Pourchaire used the lockup to his advantage and tried his luck at taking third before Iwasa cut back in front once again.
The speedy starts from the ART drivers proved too much towards the end of the race. The pace of Martins and Pourchaire began to slip. Pourchaire battled with Daruvala for fifth, and Martins struggled to defend from Hauger. Hauger dived on the inside of turn 11 on the penultimate lap to take second from the Frenchman.
Boschung ran a lonely race in the end, finishing 10.8 seconds ahead of Hauger. Martins held onto third, Iwasa stayed fourth and Pourchaire held off Daruvala to complete the top five. Kush Maini and Enzo Fittipaldi clinched the final points of the day in seventh and eighth.
Looking ahead, Boschung says tomorrow will be a lot more challenging than today’s Sprint:
“I think obviously the start is important and then just try and find a way to stay clean. Obviously tomorrow I’m going to be fighting with people around me. So yeah, I’ll just have to try and try and do my best, but yeah, it’s a bit difficult to really say what I learned from today because I was basically running like in a test where I’m just alone. I didn’t have to fight, didn’t have to defend, so it was just about managing the tyres. Tomorrow will be definitely more challenging.”
Overall, it proved to be a great day for Campos Racing, with Ralph dedicating his first win to Adrian Campos, and earlier in the day in Formula 3, Campos also secured the top spot in sprint race with Josep (Pepe) Marti taking his first race win as well.
Tomorrow’s Feature Race:
The first Feature Race of the 2023 FIA Formula 2 season gets underway tomorrow; Théo Pourchaire heads up an ART Grand Prix front row lockout alongside reigning F3 Champion and teammate, Victor Martins.
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