WEC 8 Hours of Bahrain
FIA World Endurance Championship
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View MoreLeclerc edges Verstappen for first pole in F1’s new era at F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 at BIC
Leclerc edges Verstappen for first pole in F1’s new era at F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 at BIC
- Leclerc claims second pole in Bahrain and 10th of F1 career
- Versateppen on front row, with Sainz and Perez behind
- Verschoor opens new F2 season with Sprint Race win
- Algosaibi wins first Porsche Sprint Challenge race in final round
BIC, Sakhir – Charles Leclerc captured the first pole position of Formula 1’s new era this evening at the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022 at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir.
The Monegasque driver shone brightest under lights and put Ferrari at the front for Sunday’s 57-lap night race after clocking an ultra-quick best lap time of one minute 30.558 seconds in Q3 of qualifying.
It was the 10th pole position of his career and his second at BIC, previously achieving the feat in 2019.
Leclerc beat out reigning drivers’ world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing by the narrowest of margins. Verstappen’s top lap was 1:30.681.
Carlos Sainz came a close third with a 1:30.687 lap to confirm the strong pace of Ferrari in Bahrain, while starting alongside him in the second row will be Sergio Perez, who qualified fourth with a fastest mark of 1:30.921 in the second Red Bull car.
Lewis Hamilton (1:31.238) for Mercedes will start fifth and former teammate Valtteri Bottas (1:31.560)—now with Alfa Romeo—will be beside him in sixth; while seventh is Kevin Magnussen (1:31.808) for Haas and eighth Fernando Alonso (1:32.195) for Alpine.
Completing the first 10 on the grid and rounding off the Q3 participants are George Russell (1:32.216), who qualified ninth, and AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly (1:32.338).
Eliminated earlier from Q2 were Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Haas’s Mick Schumacher, McLaren’s Lando Norris, Williams’s Alexander Albon, and Alfa Romeo rookie Guanyu Zhou.
Eliminated from Q1 were AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Nicholas Latifi of Williams.
Sunday’s F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix is scheduled for a 6pm start. It will be the 18th running of the race and it kicks off F1’s new era.
Verschoor opens F2 season with Sprint Race win
Richard Verschoor of Trident claimed the opening Sprint Race victory this evening in the FIA Formula 2 Championship’s 2022 season, held at Bahrain International Circuit in support of the F1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
Verschoor lined up in second on the start grid but was able to gain the lead heading into turn one.
After an eventful 23 laps, the Dutch driver went on to claim the chequered flag in a winning time of 43 minutes 34.983 seconds.
He finished just 1.853 seconds ahead of Jehan Daruvala of Prema Racing. Liam Lawson of Carlin completed the podium placers in third going 4.975 seconds behind the winner.
Ralph Boschung was fourth for Campis Racing, Felipe Drugovich of MP Motorsport was fifth, Lawson’s teammate Logan Sargeant came sixth, while Juri Vips of Hitech Grand Prix and Ayumu Iwasa of Dams rounded out the top eight.
The F2 field will now be holding its Feature Race on Sunday to wrap up this weekend’s first round. The 32-lapper is scheduled for a 1.40pm start and it will see Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan on pole.
Algosaibi wins first Porsche Sprint Challenge race in final round
Fahad Algosaibi clinched a pole-to-flag victory today in the first race of the final round in the 2021/2022 Porsche Sprint Challenge Middle East, being held at Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) as part of this weekend’s Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix 2022.
Algosaibi clinched the win in a total race time of 23 minutes 37.115 seconds after 11 laps.
The Saudi Arabian driver took the chequerd flag 2.789 seconds ahead of Thierry Vermeulen from the Netherlands, while Algosaibi’s countryman Bandar Alesayi took the last podium step 8.791s back.
Richard Wagner from Germany finished fourth, Morris Schuring from the Netherlands was fifth and James Dorlin from Great Britain came sixth, while Dutchmen Daan Van Kuijk and Lucas Groeneveld were seventh and eighth, respectively.
Bahrain’s Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa came 13th on the final classification while Shaikh Jaber bin Ali Al Khalifa was 18th from the 20 competing cars.
The Porsche Sprint Challenge now heads for its season-ending race on Sunday and second for this weekend, scheduled for a 3.10pm start.