Formula 2: Pursher wins in Bahrain

Ahead of the main Formula 2 race in Bahrain, one thing could be predicted with varying degrees of certainty: the victory of Theo Purscher, who won Friday’s qualifying and famously fought at yesterday’s sprint distance, where he finished fifth.

On Sunday, last year’s F2 vice champion started from pole and obviously had no intention of relinquishing his spot at the top of the podium. At the same time, his ART partner Victor Marten, a fast and talented debutant, who won the Formula 3 title in 2022, also started the race from the front row, and there were three newcomers in the first starting eight who wanted to succeed as soon as possible , since their further career also depends on it.

Looking ahead, let’s say one of the F2 debutants really succeeded, and he started from a distant 18th position.

Today the racers had to complete 32 laps, nine laps more than on Saturday – the distance of Sunday’s race was just over 173km as everyone awaited the mandatory pit stop.

Amaury Kordil, playing for Virtuosi Racing this year, for some reason was unable to start on the warm-up lap and the marshals quickly pushed his car back into the pit lane, from where it started when the team’s mechanics managed to start the engine.

Purscher started beautifully and led the race. Kush Maini also had a great start – the Indian debutant moved straight from sixth to second! But already on the first lap the race was neutralized, because at the starting flea market, Frederic Vesti sent Richard Fershhor’s car into a U-turn. Both returned to the pits, the Dane retired, but Fershor managed to get back on track.

The losses didn’t stop there though, as Victor Marten, trying to avoid the colliding cars, hooked Roman Stanek’s Trident. It ended with an early retirement for both.

On the fourth lap, the safety car returned to the pits, the fight on the track resumed. Purscher kept the lead and Ralph Boschung, yesterday’s sprint winner, overtook Maini, his DAMS teammate, to move into second place.

Isaac Hajjar, Hitech’s new rider, also scored, ahead of Arthur Leclerc and Zane Maloney to move up to 6th position.

Pursher, who was leading the peloton, was unable to open a gap on Boschung – the Swiss, by the way, was half a second behind on softer tires and made it clear that he would occasionally be ready to attack. By the eighth lap, they were already more than three seconds behind Maini, and the Indian rider was in turn roughly equal ahead of Oliver Birman. But everyone behind the British debutant Prema was already riding in a fairly tight group.

On the tenth lap, Purscher was able to slightly increase the lead over Boschung, but while the Swiss fell behind within a second, ie could theoretically try to use DRS, although in practice it failed. Just after ten laps, the scheduled pit stops began, but none of the top ten racers pitted. Only after a few laps did Birman, Ayumu Iwasa and Enzo Fittipaldi go for fresh tyres, after which everyone ended up in the second half of the peloton.

Theo Purscher made a braking error in turn 10, spoiled the rubber, forcing him to quickly turn into the pit lane – the recent leader returned to the track in sixth and the race was temporarily led by Boschung. After 14 laps he pitted and as the pit stops continued further changes took place in the top five. Purscher, in particular, regained the lead, including a few flashy overtakes, made possible by a fresh set of soft tyres.

Fershhor was second, but it was clear that his car had been damaged under the bottom, so on lap 17 he had to pit again – at the same time he was fitted with new tyres, although he rolled back to a distant 17th position.

When there was a little less than half the distance to the finish, it became known about the 5 second penalty that the stewards had given to Jack Duane: when he left the pit lane after changing tires, he almost collided with the car of Jehan Daruwala. For this, the Australian was punished with the wording “incorrect actions in the pit lane”.

On lap 19 Arthur Leclerc, who was third, made a brake error, locked his wheels and went off the track in turn 10. Kush Maini took advantage of that right away – now both Campos cars were in the top three.

Leclerc, trying to win back, just kept making mistakes and losing ground: after another walk along the berms, he was running sixth.

On lap 22, two Red Bull youth drivers and teammates of what has been dubbed Rodin Carlin this season, Zane Maloney and Enzo Fittipaldi, argued for 8th position, there was a brief exchange of attacks and counterattacks, and Barbados’ 19 summer representative.

Meanwhile the finish got closer and closer, Theo Purscher took the lead over Ralf Boschung to an impressive 12 seconds and it was clear that if his technique didn’t let him down he would take a landslide victory. Nearly four seconds off the Swiss was his partner, Kush Maini, but Birman and Iwasa battled for fourth place. Oliver defended fiercely, deflected the attack, after which Iwasa complained over the radio that the Brit pushed him off the track. The stewards investigated the incident, but believed everything was within the rules.

Ayumu couldn’t hold on to fifth position as Maloney led a successful attack on him, who then made another great overtake to get ahead of Birman.

Arthur Leclerc recovered gradually, first ahead of Iwasa, then Birman and already reached the top five again.

With three laps to go, Fershhor noticeably stepped up and had to make an extra pit stop, but he had fresher tires and, having fully exploited this advantage, was already ahead of Isaac Hadjar, then Iwasa, who moved up to 6th had risen. .

Maloney wouldn’t be satisfied with fourth position, feeling he deserved more, so he famously overtook Maini, stripping the Indian of any podium hopes.

Theo Purscher took a more than convincing victory – the French ART driver and Alfa Romeo reserve driver crossed the finish line 19 seconds ahead of Ralf Boschung. However, since the Swiss was genuinely happy with such a result, he did not restrain his emotions on the radio. Viva Campos! he shouted through the air.

Third place went to Zane Maloney, a great result for a debutant in Formula 2. Fourth place was taken by Kush Maini and Richard Fershhor rounded out the top five.

Of course, Pursher led the individual ranking of the youth series after the stage in Bahrain – he has 32 points. Boschung has five points less, while Maloney is third with 15 points. In two weeks the second stage of the season will be held in Saudi Arabia.

Racing results