Alexander Dunne perfectly mastered his Sunday in Sakhir. The Rodin Motorsport driver clinched his first victory in Formula 2, culminating in a main race managed intelligently, both in pace and strategy. Starting from fourth place on the grid, the Irishman took control of the operations before mid-race, never really being threatened. Luke Browning, on an alternate strategy, climbed to second place with flair, while Leonardo Fornaroli completed the podium after an intense battle against Mart\u00ed and Martins in the final laps.<\/p>\n
From the moment the lights went out, Fornaroli executed a perfect start from the front row. In contrast, Victor Martins, who was well-positioned, suffered from wheelspin and lost several positions within the first few meters, finding himself seventh at the exit of the first corner. Dunne took advantage to climb into second position, ahead of Roman Stanek and Rafael Villag\u00f3mez. However, Villag\u00f3mez quickly reclaimed third place at turn 10 with an incisive maneuver. Behind, Josep Mar\u00eda Mart\u00ed, who had an excellent getaway from eleventh place on soft tires, rapidly climbed up to fifth position.<\/p>\n
The strategy is quickly taking shape. The top eight at the start of the race are all on soft tires. Joshua Duerksen, in ninth, leads the group of drivers on hard tires. But Luke Browning, also on this alternative strategy, overtakes him by the fifth lap and begins his ascent. Up front, Mart\u00ed overtakes Stanek for fourth place, while Martins starts his comeback by passing the Czech driver in turn 8’s hairpin.<\/p>\n
At the opening of the pit window, Dunne returned to the DRS zone behind Fornaroli. Taking advantage of the slipstream, he took the lead at the beginning of the seventh lap in turn 1. Mart\u00ed, at the same time, overtook Villag\u00f3mez to gain third place, while Martins used turn 4 to snatch fourth place from the Mexican. Stanek responded a few laps later to reclaim the fifth position.<\/p>\n
Martins is the first of the leaders to dive into the pit lane to fit the hard tires. He comes out in seventeenth position. The following lap, Stanek, Browning, and Duerksen imitate him. Browning takes advantage of his good management of the soft tires to overtake Stanek from the fifteenth lap. Fornaroli and Mart\u00ed stop on the sixteenth lap and rejoin the track behind Martins but ahead of Browning. A lap later, Dunne comes in and retains the lead by coming out ahead of Martins.<\/p>\n
The second phase of the race is marked by the surge of Luke Browning. With his soft tires still performing well, he overtakes Mart\u00ed for fourth place on the eighteenth lap, then Fornaroli three laps later to climb onto the podium. Martins, well positioned but at a less aggressive pace, is overtaken in turn on the main straight on the twenty-third lap, with Browning moving into second position. There are then ten laps left, with a gap of 4.5 seconds to bridge to Dunne.<\/p>\n
But the Briton’s attack loses steam. Dunne manages his lead perfectly and even extends it to more than six seconds. Behind, Fornaroli catches up with Martins and manages to retake third place five laps before the checkered flag, taking advantage of his superior speed in the final corner. Mart\u00ed immediately takes advantage to get past Martins, before closing in on Fornaroli in the final lap. Thanks to DRS on the climb to turn 4, the Spaniard attempts an attack, but the Invicta Racing driver shuts the door and retains his podium position.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival, Dunne secured a clear victory, with over eight seconds ahead of Browning, who employed a successful alternative strategy. Fornaroli completed the podium ahead of Mart\u00ed, while Martins, struggling in the final, had to settle for fifth place. Richard Verschoor and Dino Beganovic, showing opportunism, followed closely. Starting sixteenth, Arvid Lindblad made an impressive comeback to finish eighth. Min\u00ec and Duerksen closed the points race.<\/p>\n
In the championship, the hierarchy is extremely tight. Fornaroli takes the lead with 26 points, just one point ahead of Dunne and Browning, who are tied at 25. Mart\u00ed follows with 23 points, and Verschoor remains in the game with 21 points. Among the teams, Hitech TGR leads with 37 points, ahead of Campos Racing (31) and Invicta Racing (30). The pack remains close, and everything could change at the next meeting in Saudi Arabia, on the formidable street circuit of Jeddah.<\/p>\n
| <\/th>\n | Driver<\/th>\n | Team<\/th>\n | Times<\/th>\n | Gap<\/th>\n | Laps<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1<\/td>\n | A. Dunne #17 <\/span><\/td>\n | Rodin Motorsport <\/td>\n | 59:40.123 <\/td>\n | <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 2<\/td>\n | L. Browning #7 <\/span><\/td>\n | Hitech TGR <\/td>\n | 59:48.367 <\/td>\n | +8.244 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 3<\/td>\n | L. Fornaroli #1 <\/span><\/td>\n | Invicta Racing <\/td>\n | 59:59.556 <\/td>\n | +19.433 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 4<\/td>\n | J. Marti #3 <\/span><\/td>\n | Campos Racing <\/td>\n | 59:59.990 <\/td>\n | +19.867 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 5<\/td>\n | V. Martins #14 <\/span><\/td>\n | ART Grand Prix <\/td>\n | 1:00:03.242 <\/td>\n | +23.119 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 6<\/td>\n | R. Verschoor #6 <\/span><\/td>\n | MP Motorsport <\/td>\n | 1:00:03.696 <\/td>\n | +23.573 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 7<\/td>\n | D. Beganovic #8 <\/span><\/td>\n | Hitech TGR <\/td>\n | 1:00:04.260 <\/td>\n | +24.137 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 8<\/td>\n | A. Lindblad #4 <\/span><\/td>\n | Campos Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:06.848 <\/td>\n | +26.725 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 9<\/td>\n | G. Mini #10 <\/span><\/td>\n | PREMA Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:15.068 <\/td>\n | +34.945 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 10<\/td>\n | J. Durksen #20 <\/span><\/td>\n | AIX Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:17.983 <\/td>\n | +37.860 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 11<\/td>\n | O. Goethe #5 <\/span><\/td>\n | MP Motorsport <\/td>\n | 1:00:21.218 <\/td>\n | +41.095 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 12<\/td>\n | R. Villagomez #25 <\/span><\/td>\n | Van Amersfoort Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:23.324 <\/td>\n | +43.201 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 13<\/td>\n | A. Cordeel #16 <\/span><\/td>\n | Rodin Motorsport <\/td>\n | 1:00:24.592 <\/td>\n | +44.469 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 14<\/td>\n | R. Miyata #15 <\/span><\/td>\n | ART Grand Prix <\/td>\n | 1:00:26.694 <\/td>\n | +46.571 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 15<\/td>\n | S. Meguetounif #22 <\/span><\/td>\n | TRIDENT <\/td>\n | 1:00:27.526 <\/td>\n | +47.403 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 16<\/td>\n | J. Crawford #11 <\/span><\/td>\n | DAMS Lucas Oil <\/td>\n | 1:00:27.828 <\/td>\n | +47.705 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 17<\/td>\n | R. Stanek #2 <\/span><\/td>\n | Invicta Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:28.756 <\/td>\n | +48.633 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 18<\/td>\n | K. Maini #12 <\/span><\/td>\n | DAMS Lucas Oil <\/td>\n | 1:00:33.079 <\/td>\n | +52.956 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 19<\/td>\n | S. Montoya #9 <\/span><\/td>\n | PREMA Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:35.790 <\/td>\n | +55.667 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 20<\/td>\n | J. Bennett #24 <\/span><\/td>\n | Van Amersfoort Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:36.034 <\/td>\n | +55.911 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 21<\/td>\n | M. Esterson #23 <\/span><\/td>\n | TRIDENT <\/td>\n | 1:00:38.411 <\/td>\n | +58.288 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| 22<\/td>\n | C. Shields #21 <\/span><\/td>\n | AIX Racing <\/td>\n | 1:00:50.098 <\/td>\n | +69.975 <\/td>\n | 32 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" McLaren development driver Alexander Dunne, a Formula 2 rookie, has just won his first race. The Irish driver benefited from a good tire strategy. Victor Martins didn’t finish on the podium, despite qualifying well. Sami Meguetounif, the second French driver, finished 15th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":45709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1750],"tags":[178,473,1404],"class_list":["post-31416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-f2","category-news-f2","tag-course","tag-grand-prix-de-bahrein","tag-sakhir"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n |