F2: Martí charges through for Sakhir Sprint victory

Red Bull-backed Josep María Martí put in a stunning performance to win from 11th on the grid in the Sakhir Sprint Race, beating Richard Verschoor and Joshua Dürksen.

The Formula 2 field produced some exciting action all the way to the flag in yesterday's Formula 2 Sprint Race. While the majority of the race saw Joshua Dürksen and Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic fight for the victory, a late safety car period closed the field for the dying stages of the F2 Sprint.

In the end, the win went to Spain’s Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing) who produced an amazing drive to come through from 11th on the grid.

The top three finishing order was only decided on the last lap with a wheel to wheel battles between Martí, Dutchman Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport), Paraguayan Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing), and Swede Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR), who crossed the finish line in that order.

In terms of tyre strategy, most drivers decided to start on the Option compound and it proved to be the right choice, because with good tyre management in the early stages, drivers still had good performance available in the closing laps. A late safety car saw several drives change tyres, both those who had started on the Prime and drivers further down the order, leading to a rush of battles for position.

Commenting on his victory, Marti: “Super happy to win the Sprint Race here in Bahrain. It’s a circuit that has treated me very nicely in the past, and it did again today.

"I’m very happy, we did a perfect race given the circumstances and how the race unfolded, so very happy with it and looking forward for a very good race tomorrow.”

However, there was a post-race change to the results as Duerksen has been disqualified while Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne has been penalised and handed two post-race penalties.

Following the race, it has emerged that the Diffusor strake 1 on Dürksen's car was lower than the minimum specified height, breaching Article 3.4.1a of the F2 Technical Regulations.

Having considered the matter, the Stewards determined that the Diffusor Strake 1 was 2mm below the tolerance specified in Article 3.4.2, constituting a breach of the Technical Regulations, resulting in the disqualification of Car 20 from the Sprint Race.

It promoted every driver up one position each in the classification, with Dino Beganovic of Hitech TGR taking the final podium place in third position.