Seventeen-year old Brazilian, Felipe Drugovich got his 2017 MRF Challenge campaign off to a perfect start by winning both races in the season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir, Bahrain on Friday.
Drugovich pulled off a brilliant move into turn one at the start of the final lap on Manuel Maldonado, cousin of former F1 racer Pastor Maldonado, to claim race two. Presley Martono also passed Maldonado on the run up to the chequered flag to beat the Venezuelan by 0.010 secs to take second spot.
In race one, Drugovich benefited from race leader Rinus van Kalmthout’s retirement to win ahead of Martono and Dylan Young.
Drugovich managed to stay with van Kalmthout, who started from the pole, for the first few laps before the Dutch driver started pulling away at the front. Meanwhile, Martono passed Young for third and started catching Drugovich.
But two laps from the end, it was heartbreak for the Dutch driver as he was forced to retire from the lead due to a mechanical problem.
In the reverse grid race two, Maldonado jumped Falchero to lead into the first corner. Drugovich had a strong start from sixth on the grid to slot into third behind the fast starting Karkosik.
Karkosik and Drugovich put pressure on Maldonado but the Venezuelan did well to stay in front before Karkosik was forced to retire with a mechanical problem.
Coming out of the last corner and heading into the start finish straight Martono managed to get his nose ahead to beat Maldonado by 0.010secs.
The results:
Qualifying: 1. Rinus van Kalmthout (2:00.754); 2. Felipe Drugovich (2:01.215); 3. Alex Karkosik (2:01.533); 4. Julian Falchero (2:01.900); 5. Presley Martono (2:01.961).
Race one: 1. Felipe Drugovich (20:33.897); 2. Presley Martono (20:34.546); 3. Dylan Young (20:38.456); 4. Alex Karkosik (20:40.984); 5. Manuel Maldonado (20:43.096).
Race two: 1. Felipe Drugovich (20:33.019); 2. Presley Martono (20:34.689); 3. Manuel Maldonado (20:34.699); 4. Julian Falchero (20:36.847); 5. Rinus van Kalmthout (20:39.456).
(S. Dipak Ragav is in Bahrain at the invitation of MRF).