F2 Bahrain Feature Race: Pourchaire dominates first feature race of 2023
5th March 2023Theo Pourchaire, ART, stormed out in front of the Bahrain feature race as the Frenchman finished the race 19 seconds ahead of Ralph Boschung, Campos Racing, in second.
- Victor Martins (ART), Frederik Vesti (Prema) and Romain Stanek (Trident) stood as the early retirements after contact in the first-lap melee, at turn four.
- MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger soon joined the retirement list as the 2021 Formula 3 world champion was seen inside the pitlane with an issue but the Norweigan later joined the race, five laps down.
It was a terrific reaction from the ART pole sitter, Theo Pourchaire, as the Frenchman cleared turn one and two unchallenged. However, the same could not be said for Pourchaire’s teammate, Martins, who was swallowed up by the pack and immediately lost his place in second to Van Amersfoort Racing’s Richard Verschoor and Campos’ Kush Maini.
However, when the pack arrived at turn four, chaos ensued. Contact was made between Vesti and Verschoor which resulted in the latter being put in a spin. Fortunately, everyone was able to avoid the stationary VAR car.
Next to them, Martins made contact with Stanek and which forced the Trident driver to run wide, and across the gravel, on the corner exit.
As Stanek retired out on track, at the run-off area of turn five, the safety car was deployed to allow track marshals to extract the stranded Trident. The race finally got back underway at the end of lap four, led by Pourchaire who had Boschung and Maini for company behind him.
After lap seven, the top three remained unchanged whereas Stanek, Vesti, Martins and MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger became the race’s early retirements. On lap 10, Hauger peeled back out onto the circuit to gather further data as the Norweigan sat five laps down on the rest of the field.
On lap 11, Arthur Leclerc (Dams), Jack Doohan (Virtuosi) and Jehan Daruvala (MP Motorsport) peeled into the pit lane to swap over their hard compound tyres for the soft tyres. However, there still remained 21 laps left of running. Oliver Bearman (Prema), Ayumu Iwasa (Dams) and Enzo Fittipaldi (Hitech) soon followed suit, a lap later.
The race leader, Pourchaire, peeled into the pits to swap over his hards for the soft compounds, this then released Boschung out into the race lead. Two laps later, Boschung pitted.
However, unlike Pourchaire, Boschung started the race on the red-walled soft compound tyres so his stop saw him swap over his softs for the hard compound.
When the second-placed driver returned to the circuit, the Campos man found himself in fourth place behind Pourchaire, Verschoor and Clement Novalak (Trident). However, Verschoor and Novalak were yet to complete their mandatory stops despite a visit to the pit lane in the early stages of the race.
On lap 17, Doohan and Daruvala were given a five-second time penalty. Doohan’s penalty was given for a pit lane procedure violation while Daruvala was found speeding in the pit lane.
While a series of battles ensued amongst the midfield, on lap 31, as Verschoor charged through the field to sit in P6, Pourchaire remained out ahead of the pack. By the time Pourchaire took the chequered flag, the ART driver sat 19 seconds ahead of Boschung, in second, with Maini in the final podium-awarding position.
Podium:
- Theo Pourchaire, ART
- Ralph Boschung, Campos
- Kush Maini, Campos
That’s it for the article: F2 Bahrain Feature Race: Pourchaire dominates first feature race of 2023!
What do you think of Theo Pourchaire’s dominant performance? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
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- Abu Dhabi GP: MP Motorsport clench team title as Iwasa wins
- Abu Dhabi GP: Iwasa takes pole in final F2 qualifying of 2022
- Dutch GP: Armstrong commands win in inaugural Holland sprint
- Belgium GP: Doohan tyre strategy secures first feature race win
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