Indian racer Kush Maini has made a strong start to his FIA Formula 2 career after finishing in the points in both, the sprint and feature races in Bahrain. Driving for Campos Racing, he finished seventh in the sprint race and followed that up with a fourth place result in the feature race.
Jehan Daruvala, meanwhile, fought through the pack to finish sixth in the sprint race. But the feature race was a more disappointing affair and he could only manage P17.
- Maini P7 in sprint race, P4 in feature race
- Boschung wins Bahrain sprint race
- Pourchaire wins feature race
Kush Maini P4 in F2 Bahrain feature race
Maini finished 14th in the F3 championship last year and graduated to F2 with Campos Racing this season. He set the sixth fastest time in his maiden qualifying, handing him a fifth place starting position for the reverse grid sprint race. He lost a handful of positions at the start, but made a good recovery to finish seventh, while teammate Ralph Boschung took victory.
He had a much better start to the feature race and had already climbed to second place heading into the first corner. Maini remained in podium contention till the very end, but ultimately have to give way to Zane Maloney, who made full use of his fresher tyres to go from 18th on the grid to third in the race. Theo Pourchaire took a lights-to-flag victory ahead of Boschung.
Finishing fourth, Maini just missed out on the podium. But the Indian collected a strong points haul in his debut F2 round. He’s currently fourth in the standings with a total of 14 points, just one point behind Maloney.
Mixed Bahrain round for Daruvala
This year, we have two Indians on the F2 grid. While Maini is making his debut, there’s also Jehan Daruvala who is taking on his fourth F2 campaign, this time with reigning champions MP Motorsport.
After starting from 11th on the grid, Daruvala weaved through the field to finish sixth in the sprint race. Speaking after the race, he said he believed his pace was strong enough for a podium finish in the feature race, but that didn’t materialise. He ended up finishing 17th after receiving a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.
2023 F2 Bahrain results
| 2023 F2 Bahrain sprint race results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| 3 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix |
| 4 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS |
| 5 | Theo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport |
| 7 | Kush Maini | Campos Racing |
| 8 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin |
| 9 | Zane Maloney | Carlin |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 11 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi Racing |
| 12 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS |
| 13 | Roman Stanek | Trident |
| 14 | Jak Crawford | Hitech Pulse-Eight |
| 15 | Oliver Bearman | Prema Racing |
| 16 | Clement Novalak | Trident |
| 17 | Frederik Vesti | Prema Racing |
| 18 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing by Charouz |
| 19 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing by Charouz |
| 20 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech Pulse-Eight |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi Racing |
| 22 | Richard Verschoor | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 2023 F2 Bahrain feature race results | ||
|---|---|---|
| Pos | Driver | Team |
| 1 | Thoo Pourchaire | ART Grand Prix |
| 2 | Ralph Boschung | Campos Racing |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Carlin |
| 4 | Kush Maini | Campos Racing |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 6 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech Pulse-Eight |
| 8 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS |
| 9 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin |
| 10 | Juan Manuel Correa | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing by Charouz |
| 12 | Jak Crawford | Hitech Pulse-Eight |
| 13 | Clement Novalak | Trident |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Prema Racing |
| 15 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi Racing |
| 16 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi Racing |
| 17 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport |
| 18 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing by Charouz |
| DNF | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| DNF | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix |
| DNF | Frederik Vesti | Prema Racing |
| DNF | Roman Stanek | Trident |
Also see:
Jehan Daruvala: “My future lies in Formula E”
from Autocar Indiahttps://cdni.autocarindia.com/ExtraImages/20230305065213_Kush_Maini_F2_Bahrain.jpg
