The first Sprint Race of the 2023 season brought a lot of joy to one of the veterans of Formula 2:Ralph Embankment. The Swiss born in '97 conquers his first victory in this category. Following an amazing Dennis Hauger who was preparing to climb the standings, obtaining second place. New Formula 3 champion Victor Martins, who after the P2 obtained in yesterday's qualifying, manages to get on the third step of the podium at the Bahrain GP.
Boschung: finally first
Ralph Boschung in his post-race statements began with "better late than never”. In fact, the number #25 of Campos Racing made his Formula 2 debut way back in 2017, now 6 years ago, finding himself at the last race in Abu Dhabi last year without the certainty of a seat for 2023.
After an excellent start where he maintains the leadership of the Sprint, he is approached by Redbull Junior Academy pilot, Ayumu Iwasa, who on lap 4 of 23 tries to enter the DRS area, but Ralph has more and manages to get away from the Japanese of the DAMS team. Thanking the opponents of the duels that took place behind him, the 25-year-old Boschung finally climbs to the top step of the podium after 96 attempts.
Hauger and Martins on the way up
At the start of the race, Victor Martins wasted no time and climbed up to fourth from ninth position, ousting Roman Stanek who had started from second place on the grid. Iwasa and Leclerc go side by side from the first lap, allowing the French rookie to close the gap. While Arthur Leclerc serves a 10-second penalty for breaking the starting procedure, Martins took the opportunity to put the Monegasque's teammate and DAMS number #11 under pressure. A duel that was not resolved with the first overtaking, but that is what it is continued until the 13th lap of the race when the ART GP driver manages to grab the second position, but only momentarily.
Dennis Piles instead, aboard the MP, he started sixth, but the young Norwegian wanted to reconfirm the speed of his car which allowed him to finish fourth yesterday. While the pole sitter, Theo porchaire, was looking for the right moment to overtake Iwasa, he found himself having to lose the position with Hauger. It's not enough, Dennis wants more and gets it by keeping his foot on the accelerator in turn 2, passing Iwasa. In the penultimate lap the challenge for second place between Martins and Hauger reignites, but the number #1 has more grip and closes a fantastic overtaking in the Frenchman's face.
However, it's time to put down the celebration bottle because you need a lot of concentration to be able to do your best too in tomorrow's Feature Race!
