F2 Bahrain: Maloney doubles up with dominant feature race victory

Maloney climbed from eighth to top the podium in Friday’s opening race of the F2 season and put on another fine display on Saturday to establish an early championship lead with a maiden feature race win.

Maloney went against the trend to start on soft tyres but was able to switch onto the harder rubber late on to maintain his advantage after a safety car interruption.

Front row pair Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar endured a dreadful start as the pair collided at Turn 1 after being jumped by Maloney.

While the majority of the field were able to avoid Hadjar’s stricken car, Enzo Fittipaldi was the unlucky party as he ploughed into Hadjar’s sidepod with his Van Amersfoort Racing entry, causing the safety car to be called into action.

Both drivers retired on the spot while Bortoleto, who sustained front wing damage, was handed a 10-second penalty.

Williams Academy driver Zak O’Sullivan and MP Motorsport driver Dennis Hauger climbed to second and third in the early melee, both on hard tyres.

After the safety car returned to the pits, Jak Crawford began to make moves through the order on his soft rubber, passing Hauger at Turn 10 for fourth.

This momentum was tempered when he was among a handful of drivers to have been noted for a safety car infringement, although no further action was the eventual ruling.

Also making moves was Pepe Marti, who was freed by the hard-shod O’Sullivan into second after starting in 11th.

At the end of lap 10, Martins was the first driver to pit for their mandatory stop, switching onto the soft tyres with 22 laps still to complete, dropping from 11th to the rear of the field.

Another early stopper was PHM AIX driver Taylor Barnard who, after a slow stop, was forced to return to the pits after his right rear tyre was not fitted correctly.

Oliver Bearman’s day had gotten off to a poor start as he was forced into the pits at the start with a technical issue.

But as he headed for the pits to take his mandatory stop, he came together with Amaury Cordeel, leading to the latter’s retirement. Shortly after, Bearman lost a front wing endplate as a result of the contact.

Zane Maloney, Rodin Motorsport (Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd)

The pitstop phase continued to deliver drama as Crawford retired at his stop. It initially appeared that the American had stalled, but as the laptop came out and was plugged into the car, it became clear that there was more drama than had initially appeared to be the case.

Moments before leaders Maloney and Marti pitted, Martins retired from the race with a loss of power, causing the safety car to be deployed once more.

The big winner of the safety car was Kush Maini, who had originally taken pole position on Thursday before being disqualified. Fitting the soft rubber, he returned to the track in 11th. By the chequered flag, he was able to recover to seventh.

When the safety car returned to the pits, the action was frenetic, with the Rodin-run Ritomo Miyata dropping back on his recently fitted hard tyres.

But at the front, Maloney bucked the trend and streaked ahead on hard tyres, with O’Sullivan unable to do anything on the soft equivalent.

More of a concern for O’Sullivan was Marti behind, who had closed to within DRS range and made his move for second at Turn 1 on lap 27. One lap later, it was Paul Aron’s turn to push back O’Sullivan, promoting himself into the podium places.

For Maloney and Marti, it was their second trip to the podium in as many races, while it was a career-first top three result for Aron.

F2 Bahrain feature race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5		32	-				25
2	P. Martí Campos Racing	21		32	+4.600 4.6	4.600			18
3	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17		32	+11.700 11.7	7.100			15
4	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2		32	+12.500 12.5	0.800			12
5	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10		32	+12.500 12.5	0.000			10		2
6	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12		32	+13.600 13.6	1.100			8
7	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9		32	+14.700 14.7	1.100			6
8	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11		32	+16.000 16.0	1.300			4		1
9	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6		32	+16.200 16.2	0.200			2
10	A. Kimi Prema Powerteam	4		32	+20.400 20.4	4.200			1
11	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24		32	+24.000 24.0	3.600
12	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15		32	+29.500 29.5	5.500
13	R. Staněk Trident	23		32	+31.100 31.1	1.600
14	R. Verschoor Trident	22		32	+33.700 33.7	2.600
15	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3		32	+51.100 51.1	17.400
16	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25		32	+58.900 58.9	7.800
dnf	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1		17	15 laps					Retirement
dnf	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7		16	16 laps					Retirement
dnf	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		14	18 laps					Retirement
dnf	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8		6	26 laps					Retirement
dnf	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20		0						Retirement
dnf	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14		0						Retirement
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