Richard Verschoor took his second FIA Formula 2 victory after leading from start-to-finish in the season-opening sprint race on the Sakhir circuit.
The Dutchman moved ahead of polesitter Felipe Drugovich at the start, and controlled the rest of the 23-lap encounter to give Trident its first triumph in the series since 2016. Red Bull juniors Jehan Daruvala (Prema) and Liam Lawson (Carlin) completed the podium in second and third.
After being beaten off the line by fellow front-row starter Verschoor, MP Motorsport’s Drugovich then lost further places and dropped to fifth Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung moved into second on the opening tour ahead of Daruvala and Lawson, while ART’s Theo Pourchaire took fifth from Drugovich on lap two.
The safety car was deployed on the third lap when Hitech GP’s Marcus Armstrong was spun out by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes, who was handed a 10-second time penalty.
Racing resumed on lap six, with Verschoor pulling out a 1s lead, while an issue forced Pourchaire into the pitlane to retire.
Daruvala used his DRS to pass Boschung for second into turn one with eight laps to go, moments before a brief virtual safety car to recover Hughes’s car, which had pulled up at the side of the circuit. The battle for second continued at the resumption, with Boschung wrestling the position back in a side-by-side tussle exiting turn four.
But Daruvala was back past on the next lap, and stayed in second until the finish, as Verschoor took the win by 1.8s Boschung slipped into the clutches of Lawson, who snatched the final podium place with less than three laps to go.
Drugovich held off a charging Logan Sargeant to finish fifth, the Carlin rookie having dispatched Hitech’s Juri Vips in the closing stages.
After spinning out in qualifying, Red Bull protege Ayuma Iwasa climbed from the back of the grid to score the final point in eighth on his debut for DAMS. Reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Denis Hauger was ninth on his first F2 start for Prema, while Sunday’s feature race polesitter Jack Doohan was 10th for Virtuosi.
Oli Caldwell was another non-finisher for Campos, while Clement Novalak finished 18th for MP after visiting the pits for a new front wing.
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
