F2 2022 Bahrain Feature Race: Theo Pourchaire wins after pitlane drama
20th March 2022ART’s Theo Pourchaire secured his first win of the season, in the Bahrain Feature Race, while Prema’s Dennis Hauger and Trident’s Calan Williams retired in the pit lane with only three tyres.
How the race unfolded…
It was a very poor start by the pole sitter, Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan, which allowed Juri Vips to take the lead of the race ahead of Campos’ Ralph Boschung – who nearly took the lead into the first corner.
As the field ventured around the track, on the second lap, the Mercedes safety car was deployed to allow the track marshals to remove the stranded ART of Frederick Vesti. At the end of the fourth lap, the safety car veered back into the pit lane and the race got back underway.
Doohan managed to regain second place into the first corner as Boschung failed to react to Vips’ getaway on the restart.
Campos’ Olli Caldwell was given a 10-second stop and go penalty for being out of position at the first safety car line.
By lap nine, Dams’ Ayumu Iwasa had made an impressive charge up the field after he started at the back of the grid. The Japanese driver made 12 positions since the race start and sat in P9 as the field ventured around the Bahrain circuit.
As a good handful of drivers ventured into the pit lane to complete their pit stop, Vips had a horrible stop as the mechanics struggled to get his front left tyre off and the . As a result, Doohan was promoted to the lead of the race and pitted after Vips misfortune.
However, when the Virtuosi driver returned to the track, he made contact with ART’s Theo Pourchaire and damaged his front wing in the process.
Despite starting at the back of the pack, Iwasa led the race as he crossed the line to start the 17th lap, continuing his long stint on the soft tyres. However, the Japanese driver was yet to pit while the remaining drivers had already completed their mandatory stops.
Iwasa soon pitted to swap his soft compound tyres for the harder, white-ringed, compound on lap 19 and returned out onto the track just inside the top 10.
Although Vips had a poor pit stop which cost him the lead of the race, the Estonian driver charged back up the field to P4, seven seconds behind the leader.
Caldwell’s day went from bad to worse, on lap 22, as he was ordered into the pit lane to serve a 10-second penalty for exceeding track limits. Four laps later, the Campos driver was then given a drive through penalty for track limits.
On lap 27, Enzo Fittipaldi made contact with Verschoor, who was sent into a spin. As a result, the safety car was deployed after Verschoor couldn’t get his car going again.
After the safety car was deployed, there was drama in the pitlane as Dennis Hauger’s mechanic couldn’t fit his front left tyre in time before the car was released. As Hauger stopped his car, his loose tyre popped off and rolled off into the pit wall.
This was a similar instance for Trident driver Calan Williams, who still had the wheel gun attached to his front left tyre as he was released back into the pit lane.
The safety car returned to the pit lane at the end of the 30th lap and the pack was lead back to green-flag conditions by Pourchaire with Carlin’s Liam Lawson and Vips close behind.
As the timer ran out, part of F2’s regulations, Pourchaire managed to hold off Lawson and Vips to secure his first win of the season!
Podium:
- Theo Pourchaire, ART
- Liam Lawson, Carlin
- Juri Vips, Hitech
That’s it for the article: ‘.’ With the first weekend done in the 2022 championship, who are you watching for the rest of the season? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 Feature Race: Oscar Piastri wins in Abu Dhabi Finale
- F2 Sprint Race 2: Guanyu Zhou secures win in Abu Dhabi
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.