Zane Maloney completed a stellar weekend in Bahrain to follow up his success in the Sprint with a commanding win in the Feature race to take near-maximum points.
Maloney got off to a flying start on the Soft tyre, charging past Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar after a slow start saw the polesitter clip the side of the Campos car.
Enzo Fittipaldi was an unfortunate victim of the lights-out chaos as he hit the stricken Hadjar side-on at Turn 1 and both drivers retired, meanwhile, Bortoleto incurred front-wing damage and a 10-second penalty for his hand in the incident.
Zak O’Sullivan was a major benefactor of the chaos by snatching second place with Dennis Hauger tailing behind in his MP Motorsport car.
The safety car was swiftly deployed after the collision, with drivers asked to use the shortcut at Turn 1 while Hadjar and Fittipaldi were recovered from the track after an early end to the first Feature Race of the season with the all-new cars for both.
Continuing a disappointing weekend for Prema, Oliver Bearman went to the pits before the pit stops opened with a mechanical issue while Mercedes prodigy and reigning FRECA champion Andrea Kimi Antonelli cruised around the midfield.
The leading driver from Barbados made a quick start after the safety car returned to the pits, while Jak Crawford charged down the inside of Bortoletto with a bold move to head for the podium places.
MP’s Dennis Hauger fell under pressure on the hard compound tyres from a flying Crawford on softs behind in the DRS zone, as he went deep on Turn 5 to take the position from the MP competitor.
Maloney comfortably set the fastest lap on Lap 5, establishing a 1.7-second lead while O’Sullivan tailing behind slowly lost the slipstream to the race leader which left him vulnerable to Campos’ Pepe Marti who snatched his position down the straight on the softs.
Juan Manuel Correa visited the pits in Lap 6 with a mechanical issue rather than for a tyre change, retiring whilst his teammate O’Sullivan raced in contention for a podium.
Down the inside of Japanese rookie Ritomo Miyata, Richard Verschoor in a Trident snatched 7th place at Turn 8 while Bortoletti charged past Hauger to find a place back on the podium.
Drivers flooded the pits when the window opened on Lap 11, with Martins changing to softs and a disastrously slow stop for PHM driver Taylor Barnard that dropped him to 19th place having to return to the pits with an ill-fitted right rear a lap later.
Hauger was left vulnerable to Miyata going around his outside on Turn 1, preserving by Turn 6 to steal 6th place from the Norweigan MP driver.
Pit lane chaos continued as Prema driver Bearman crashed into the side of Hitech’s Amaury Cordeel as they both aimed for the pits in Lap 16, with ART driver and podium contender O’Sullivan and Hauger going in for the soft tyres.
By Lap 16, Maloney established a 4.9-second lead as competitor Crawford lost power during a routine pit stop, forcing him to retire from the race after mechanics tried to revive the engine before his race came to a close.
Drivers like Verschoor and Paul Aron picked up 5-second penalties for speeding in the pit lane, while further chaos unfolded as ART’s Victor Martins lost power coming out of Turn 4, bringing out yellow flags in sector 2 right as the race leader was heading into the pits.
Maloney rejoined the pack in the lead, while Antonelli snuck his way up into the points positions by lap 20 on his debut weekend.
The safety car was deployed in Lap 19, leading the pack around the field until Maloney got a swift exit down the straight as green flags were waved on Lap 21 with a scrappy pack following behind the Barbadian driver.
Disqualified from qualifying after earning a pole position, Invicta’s Kush Maini worked his way up the field and saw himself in contention for points coming out of the safety car restart on fresh soft tyres.
DRS was quickly enabled and saw the two Prema drivers side by side, as Antonelli curved around the outside of Bearman to steal eighth place while he was bombarded by six drivers going into Turn 10.
Tailed by the Invicta duo, Ritomo Miyata lost position to Bortoleto, leaving him stuck between a train of cars behind Antonelli in 8th.
The Indian Invicta driver was closely following Antonelli after climbing from 22nd to 8th, jumping him as a duo with Bortoleto at Turn 4.
Marti ran down the inside towards Turn 1 into second place in the crucial last few laps, as Aron lunged down the inside of O’Sullivan to steal third place as the British driver continued to struggle with his degrading tyres.
Hauger lost 5th place to his teammate Franco Colapinto, leaving him to defend from the Invicta duo flying down the field with a swapped track position as Bortoleto took Maini towards Turn 6 on Lap 30.
Bortoleto made up another place after a great exit on the corner at Turn 5 to take 5th place after a tragic start to the Feature, but Maloney was the star as he snagged the double with a 4.6-second lead to Marti in second.
Marti finished runner-up after a stunning drive going from 12th, while Aron found himself on the third step of the podium after starting 13th.
O’Sullivan held onto fourth while Bortoleto had a great recovery drive to finish in fifth after the added penalty, with two MP’s in the top ten with Colapinto in sixth and Hauger in eighth.
Scrapping with Miyata who finished in ninth for Rodin, the Mercedes junior Antonelli earned his first points finish in 10th place on his debut F2 weekend after a disappointing start to the season for Prema.
