Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Guanyu Zhou earned his maiden Formula 2 feature race victory in a thrilling third and final race of the season-opening weekend in Bahrain after passing Richard Verschoor with five laps to go.

Alpine F1 tester Zhou, who lost a likely feature race win in the 2020 season-opener at the Red Bull Ring due to a mechanical issue, began the race from pole position on the hard tyres, but he was soon shuffled down to fourth place by three-soft tyre shod drivers.

Zhou’s Alpine stablemate Oscar Piastri became the leader of that trio as the race reached the pitstop phase. Piastri, ART Grand Prix’s Christian Lundgaard and Zhou’s Virtuosi team-mate Felipe Drugovich all made their pitstops, but the virtual safety car  (which soon became a full safety car) was called just as Piastri was leaving the pits, helping him to rejoin in front.

That safety car was required when Gianluca Petecof’s fire extinguisher went off on his Campos-run machine and his car came to a stop at Turn 1.

Marcus Armstrong, Verschoor and Matteo Nannini were able to then make their mandatory pitstop under the safety car, giving Armstrong the lead when the race restarted. Now on the hard tyres, the Ferrari junior immediately lost that lead on the restart, as Piastri headed Verschoor.

Verschoor, only on a one-round deal with MP Motorsport, was able to use his soft tyres to pass the hard-tyre shod Piastri and move into the race lead, while Zhou charged from sixth to second place within five laps.

Zhou then passed Verschoor on lap 28 of 32 to take a race lead that he would keep until the chequered flag. Verschoor struggled to manage his soft tyres and came under pressure from the cars behind.

The virtual safety car was required with laps to go when Dan Tickum and Piastri collided at Turn 2, with the latter sent into a spin and out of the race.

When the race resumed, Carlin’s Ticktum and current Red Bull Liam Lawson overhauled Verschoor to complete the podium positions behind the new championship leader Zhou, who just stayed out of Ticktum’s reach on the final lap. Ticktum’s clash with Piastri was investigated but no action was deemed necessary.

Verschoor was forced to settle for fourth place ahead of Armstrong, who scored his and DAMS’ first points of the season.

Ticktum’s team-mate Daruvala finished in sixth place ahead of Piastri’s Prema team-mate Robert Shwartzman, who recovered brilliantly from earning a drive-through penalty for rear-ending Roy Nissany on the opening lap to take seventh place and two bonus points for the fastest lap.

Theo Pourchaire took eighth place when time penalties for safety car infringements were awarded to Drugovich and Lundgaard. Drugovich’s penalty dropped him to ninth place ahead of Nannini who took his F2 point in 10th place.

David Beckmann was 11th ahead of Lundgaard and Hitech GP’s Juri Vips, who had another troubled race from the back of the grid.

Race results (32 laps)

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Photo: Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool

Liam Lawson claimed a debut Formula 2 victory in the opening race of the 2021 season, after fending off fellow Red Bull-junior Jehan Daruvala in the first of two reversed-grid sprint races in Bahrain.

Lawson moved from third to first place on the run down to Turn 1 on the opening lap, passing reverse-grid polesitter Theo Pourchaire and Charouz Racing System’s David Beckmann.

Hitech GP’s Lawson set the fastest lap on the second tour to build an early race lead, while Pourchaire and Beckmann squabbled for second place. Pourchaire emerged in front and he held that position until his ART Grand Prix-run car ground to a halt with 10 laps to go.

Lawson’s main challenger then became Carlin’s Daruvala who had dispatched Beckmann around the outside of Turn 4 at the halfway stage in the race.

Daruvala rapidly closed to within a second of Lawson but he couldn’t find a way of denying Lawson a victory on his F2 debut. Daruvala was forced to settle for his third F2 podium – all of which have come in Bahrain.

On his F2 debut, Beckmann claimed the final place on the podium, keeping the Prema duo of Robert Shwartzman and Oscar Piastri at arm’s length all-race long.  Reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Piastri attempted to pass Shwartzman at Turn 4 late on but the highest-placed returning F2 driver swept into the corner and claimed his fourth-place finish – from 11th on the grid.

ART GP’s Lundgaard had a muted run to sixth place ahead of Carlin’s Dan Ticktum, who drops to eighth place in the final classification after he picked up a five-second time penalty for colliding with MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor at Turn 1.

This promoted the feature race polesitter Guanyu Zhou (Virtuosi) to seventh place, with Ticktum taking eighth place ahead of Lirim Zendeli and Lawson’s team-mate Juri Vips – who charged from the back of the grid to take reverse-grid pole for the second sprint race.

There was heartbreak for Guilherme Samaia, who was set for his first F2 points finish and a place at the front of the grid for the second sprint race, before a five-second time penalty for a VSC infringement dropped him to 12th behind Trident’s Bent Viscaal.

Ferrari junior Marcus Armstrong suffered a miserable start to the season as his car terminally slowed on the exit of Turn 1 and was collected by F2 returnee Ralph Boschung (Campos), who ran into the back of his DAMS-run machine and then stopped too.

Race results (23 laps)

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Photo: F3 Asian Championship

Patrik Pasma won the opening race of Asian Formula 3’s Yas Marina Circuit season finale on the road, but a penalty left Formula 2 star Guanyu Zhou taking victory.

Evans GP driver Pasma passed poleman Zhou on the run down to Turn 1 on the opening lap to assume a race lead he’d hold until the chequered flag 30 minutes later.

A lenthy post-race investigation led to Pasma then being penalised five seconds for speeding under yellow flags, handing Zhou the win.

Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Zhou was unable to challenge Pasma in the race, who earlier in the day announced he’d be returning to Formula Regional European Championship with KIC Motorsport later this year. 

As a result of the switcharound in positions, Zhou cut dramatically into Pierre-Louis Chovet’s points lead.

Hitech GP’s Roman Stanek, was on course for his first podium in third place before the 16-year-old stopped on track with a suspected mechanical issue with just four minutes remaining.

Mumbai Falcons’ Kush Maini instead inherited his first podium finish of the season.

Zhou’s team-mate David Vidales, who climbed from eighth to fifth on the opening lap, was promoted to fourth place following Stanek’s misfortune before being docked for the same offence as Pasma and dropping to sixth behind Hitech’s Nissany and Chovet.

Pinnacle Motorsport driver Chovet was shuffled backwards on that first lap to sixth place and he was demoted to seventh place by Nissany shortly afterwards. He claimed sixth place at the chequered flag before gaining an extra spot.

Sixth place marks the first time Chovet has finished outside of the top five this season. His points lead is reduced from 32 to 17, with two races remaining.

F2 race-winner Jehan Daruvala fell out of title contention with a muted run to seventh, ahead of Hitech’s Reece Ushijima once BlackArts Racing’s Cem Bolukbasi was another to be penalised.

Ushihima’s team-mate Ayumu Iwasa was 10th, running behind British F4 graduate Alex Connor until he was forced to retire in the race’s latter stages.

Zhou took the fastest race lap, earning him pole position for race two ahead of Pasma and Daruvala. Chovet will start from eighth.

Race results

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Photo: F3 Asian Championship

Jehan Daruvala was victorious in the final race of Asian Formula 3’s back-to-back rounds at Yas Marina Circuit.

The Formula 2 race-winner took a lights-to-flag victory to half Pierre-Louis Chovet’s championship lead.

The Mumbai Falcons star led fellow F2 driver Guanyu Zhou and French Formula 4 graduate Isack Hadjar all-race long. The three were separated by less than two seconds for the entirety of the race.

Zhou attempted to pass Daruvala on the opening lap but proceedings were quickly halted when Zhou’s Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema team-mate Dino Beganovic collided with sim racer Cem Bolukbasi.

Beganovic, who will hand over his car to David Vidales for the remainder of the season, could be seen nursing his hand, while Bolukbasi’s eight-race points streak came to an end.

Daruvala mastered the safety car restart and remained unchallenged thereafter to claim his third victory of the season, while Alpine Formula 1 tester Zhou finished in second place to earn his third podium in as many rounds. Evans GP’s Hadjar earned his fifth podium of the year in third.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Chovet was unable to match the pace of the top three and settled for fourth, just ahead of Evans GP’s Patrik Pasma – driving the chassis that was initially utilised by former team-mate Casper Stevenson – and the Hitech GP duo of Roman Stanek and Ayumu Iwasa.

Daruvala’s team-mate Kush Maini took eighth place ahead of BlackArts Racing’s Lorenzo Fluxa, who ended his strongest weekend of the season so far with two more points. Hitech’s Reece Ushijima took the final point in 10th place.

The series now heads back to Dubai Autodrome for the penultimate round on February 12-14.

Race results

The post Daruvala closes on Chovet’s Asian F3 lead with victory at Yas Marina appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F3 Asian Championship

Pierre-Louis Chovet took his third victory of the Asian Formula 3 season to storm into the championship lead after race one of the second back-to-back round at Yas Marina Circuit.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Chovet blasted past Formula 2 race-winner Jehan Daruvala to take the race lead into Turn 1 on the opening lap, but it wasn’t long before the safety car was required when Lorenzo Fluxa and Rafael Villagomez ran into terminal trouble.

There was drama on the restart as Williams Formula 1 tester Roy Nissany dived down the inside of Patrik Pasma for fourth place at the first chicane. Nissany clattered into Pasma and the latter was eliminated while Nissany resumed in fourth place.

There were no such troubles for Chovet out front. The Frenchman maintained a consistent buffer to Mumbai Falcons’ poleman Daruvala and Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Guanyu Zhou.

In addition to passing Daruvala at the top of the standings, fastest lap also earned Chovet pole for race two.

Second and third place respectively keeps F1 juniors Daruvala and Zhou in the title fight, while Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic was able to make a move stick on DAMS F2 driver Nissany to claim fourth.

Nissany scored his best result since the opening round of the season in fifth place ahead of his Hitech GP team-mate Ayumu Iwasa.

Sim racing star Cem Bolukbasi finished in seventh place for BlackArts Racing, after passing Daruvala’s Kush Maini in the closing stages of the race. The Indian finally avoided misfortune to score his first points of the season in eighth.

French Formula 4 graduate Isack Hadjar and Roman Stanek rounded out the top 10.

Chovet will start race two from pole ahead of Zhou, Hadjar and Fluxa, who brilliantly recovered from his opening lap drama to re-join the race and set the fourth fastest lap of the race.

Race results

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Pierre-Louis Chovet dominated the final race of round two of the Asian Formula 3 season at Yas Marina Circuit, while Guanyu Zhou stormed from the back to fifth.

Pre-race championship leader Zhou stalled from second on the grid, while Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema team-mate Dino Beganovic and Evans GP’s Patrik Pasma collided at Turn 1 on the opening lap.

A few corners later the safety car was required when Evans GP’s Casper Stevenson and Irina Sidorkova and Pinnacle Motorsport’s Alessio Deledda became entangled.

After a delay of over 10 minutes, the race resumed with Chovet leading Formula 2 driver Jehan Daruvala (Mumbai Falcons), Isack Hadjar (Evans GP) and Ayumu Iwasa (Hitech GP).

Pinnacle’s Chovet used his fresh set of tyres to break away from the chasing pack. The Frenchman was able to pull a lead of 2.352 seconds over Daruvala on the first lap under green flag conditions.

That margin was extended to 7.921s by the time Chovet took the chequered flag, and Daruvala claimed his fourth podium in six races to vault into the championship lead.

Hadjar spent the entirety of the race staring at the back of the Daruvala for the second successive race. He still picked up his third podium of the weekend in third , one place ahead of his 2020 French F4 rival Iwasa, who picked up his best F3 result yet in fourth.

Alpine Formula 1 junior Zhou made the most of his fresh tyres to pick off half the grid on his way back into the points positions, including a stunning move around the outside of the notoriously-tough defender Roy Nissany.

He passed Nissany’s team-mate Reece Ushijima on the final lap to move into fifth place and limit the points loss to his Formula 2 rival Daruvala.

DAMS F2 driver Nissany took seventh place ahead of team-mate Roman Stanek, Motorscape’s Roberto Faria and BlackArts Racing’s Cem Bolukbasi who was able to maintain his 100% points-scoring record in 10th.

Beganovic and Pasma recovered to finish in 11th and 12th places respectively.

The third round of the 2021 Asian F3 championship will kick off tomorrow with practice, qualifying and race one at Yas Marina.

Race results (14 laps)

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Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Mumbai Falcons’ Jehan Daruvala fended off Formula 4 graduate Isack Hadjar to win the second Asian Formula 3 race of the weekend at Yas Marina Circuit.

Daruvala triumphed in the weekend opener and eclipsed Evans GP driver Hadjar’s best race lap by just 0.006s to secure pole for race two.

The Formula 2 regular led at the start of the race, but Hadjar remained in second place close behind the Red Bull junioe.

At 10 minutes into the race, Hadjar and fellow F4 graduate Dino Beganovic ran three-wide with Daruvala for the race lead but miraculously Daruvala – in the middle of the trio – held the lead at the end of the second long straight.

Daruvala continued to come under pressure from Hadjar and the cars behind, but he managed to resist to take his second successive race victory and cut Alpine Formula 1 junior Guanyu Zhou’s championship lead to three points.

Second place marks Frenchman Hadjar’s best result of the season while Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Beganovic completed the podium, this time avoiding the last-lap heartbreak of an engine failure that cost him fourth place in race one.

His team-mate Zhou was forced to settle for the weakest finish of his campaign so far in fourth place, one place ahead of race three poleman Pierre-Louis Chovet (Pinnacle Motorsport) and Evans GP’s Patrik Pasma.

Sim racer Cem Bolukbasi matched his best result of the season in seventh place for BlackArts Racing, ahead of F2 driver Roy Nissany (Hitech GP). The top 10 was completed by Nissany’s team-mates Roman Stanek and Ayumu Iwasa.

Race results (16 laps)

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Photo: F3 Asian Championship

Jehan Daruvala got his Asian Formula 3 title assault back on track as he beat fellow Formula 1 junior Guanyu Zhou to victory in race one at Yas Marina Circuit.

Mumbai Falcons’ Daruvala suffered a difficult opening round at Dubai Autodrome which left him seventh in the points. The Red Bull junior responded with pole for race one in Abu Dhabi and converted it into a measured lights-to-flag victory.

He faced a challenge from Isack Hadjar into Turn 1 on the opening lap, but Hadjar picked the dusty inside line which left him vulnerable to Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Zhou.

Zhou picked off Hadjar a couple of corners later to move into second place. The top three were separated by two seconds for the majority of the race, but Zhou and Hadjar were unable to make a serious challenge on Daruvala.

Zhou came under intense pressure from Hadjar at the end of the race but survived a big lock-up to take his third podium of the year, which allows the Alpine Formula 1 junior to extend his points lead.

Evans GP’s Hadjar continued his impressive Regional F3 graduation with his second podium of the season, and his fastest lap was just 0.006 seconds shy of beating Daruvala to race two pole.

Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic was on course to claim fourth but his car went up in smoke on the final lap of the race.

Formula Regional European Championship race-winner Patrik Pasma earned his best result of the season in fourth for Evans GP, ahead of Pinnacle Motorsport’s race three poleman Pierre-Louis Chovet, who dropped to sixth after a failed overtaking attempt on Beganovic in the opening stages but moved back into fifth after Beganovic’s late-race heartbreak.

Roman Stanek claimed his first points of the year in sixth place ahead of his Hitech GP team-mate, F2 driver Roy Nissany.

BlackArts Racing’s Cem Bolukbasi finished eighth, while Hitech duo Ayumu Iwasa and Reece Ushijima rounded out the top 10.

F2-bound Alessio Deledda collided with BRDC British F3 driver Roberto Faria on the opening lap. Pinnacle’s Deledda retied while Motorscape’s Faria finished down in 16th.

Race results (16 laps)

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Photo: Asian F3 Championship

Pierre-Louis Chovet emerged victorious in a thrilling final race of the season-opening Asian Formula 3 championship at the Dubai Autodrome.

There was drama at the start of the race as Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema’s Guanyu Zhou, who dominated the first two races of the weekend, was eliminated from the race after a collision with the Mumbai Falcons duo of Jehan Daruvala and Kush Maini.

Meanwhile, at the front of the field, Williams F1 test driver Roy Nissany passed polesitter Chovet on the exit of Turn 1 on the opening lap to seize the race lead.

Nissany was able to open up a lead of three seconds as the cars squabbled behind him, however, Chovet caught Nissany at half-distance.

Frenchman Chovet faced a tough defence from Nissany but he bided his time and made a bold move on the 26-year-old. Nissany was sent wide which also allowed Prema’s Dino Beganovic to power past both Roman Stanek and Nissany to move from fourth to second place in one corner.

Beganovic was unable to make a significant impression on race leader Chovet, who scooped his second victory in Regional F3 machinery to close the gap to championship leader Zhou to a single point.

Beganovic’s second consecutive P2 finish ensures he rounds out the top three in the championship after the opening weekend of the season. He is sharing the second Prema entry with his 2021 Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine team-mate David Vidales.

Nissany’s Hitech GP team-mate Stanek was eliminated by contact, clearing the way for Nissany to earn his second podium of the weekend.

French F4 graduate Isack Hadjar capped off a strong maiden weekend in Regional F3 machinery with a fourth-place finish ahead of Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa, who completed the top five.

Reece Ushijima earned his best result of the weekend in sixth place, while Daruvala made an incredible comeback drive through the field, to come from the back of the field to seventh place ahead of sim racer Cem Bolukbasi (BlackArts Racing).

Bolukbasi’s team-mates Zdenek Chovanec and Lorenzo Fluxa scored their first points of the weekend in ninth and 10th place respectively.

Race results (19 laps)

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Asian F3 Championship

Guanyu Zhou made it two victories from two after the Alpine Formula 1 test driver dominated the second Asian Formula 3 race of the season-opening weekend at the Dubai Autodrome.

The Chinese driver led his Abu Dhabi Racing by Prema team-mate Dino Beganovic away from pole position after second-place starter Kush Maini (Mumbai Falcons) was left stranded on the grid with gearbox woes.

The safety car was required in the early stages of the race following a collision between Amna Al Qubaisi and Rafael Villagomez.

Once racing resumed, Zhou dominated – the first time he’s won back-to-back races since his maiden season in car racing in 2015 in Italian Formula 4.

Beganovic secured second place in only his second race in Regional F3 machinery, while Isack Hadjar earned his and Evans GP’s maiden Asian F3 podium finish in third.

Pierre-Louis Chovet, who will race in FIA F3 Championship with Jenzer Motorsport later this year, finished in fourth for the second consecutive race.

Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa passed Formula 2-bound Alessio Deledda late-on to round out the top five.

Pinnacle Motorsport’s Deledda was forced to settle for sixth place, but this still represented his best-ever result in car racing.

Carlin’s F2 driver Jehan Daruvala, racing for Indian outfit Mumbai Falcons in Asian F3, spent the entirety of race one stuck behind fellow F2 driver Roy Nissany. He finally made passed him at the end of race two to finish in seventh.

Hitech’s Nissany claimed eighth ahead of sim racer Cem Bolukbasi (BlackArts Racing) and Evans GP’s Patrik Pasma.

Race results (16 laps)

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