In the second round of the MRF Challenge in Bahrain, British racer Jamie Chadwick won three out of five races. She is the only female racer in the 12-car grid of the racing series. She won two races in the second day and one race in the first day, taking her total to 183 points in the series.
In the first day of the second round of MRC Challenge, three races were held. Max Defourny won a race and finished the other two on the podium. In the first race, though Defourny started from pole position, it was Andreas Estner who had a good start as he went past the former. Estner went on to win the tightly fought race, followed by Defourny and Danial Frost.
The second race started in reverse grid. Defourny’s car incurred damages as a result of a collision before turn 1 between pole sitter Petr Ptacek (Czech Republic) and Singapore’s Danial Frost. This tussle opened up a gap for Jamie Chadwick, who took the lead, with Defourny and Dylan Young (Australia) behind. The trio held position to the finish. For Chadwick, it was her maiden win in the championship after three second places in Dubai round. In the third race, despite the damages in his car which resulted in a lot of vibration in the left side, pole sitter Defourny went on to win the race comfortably while Estner came in second followed by Patrik Pasma from Finland.
On her three wins in the second round of the MRF Challenge, Jamie Chadwick said, “I am really happy with the three wins here. I came here form Dubai feeling winless. We knew we had the pace and our aim here was to get some wins. I had a good start and could control the race. Max started to come at me, so I had to put in some good laps to win comfortably.”
After winning one race and finishing the other two on podium, Max Defourny said, “It could or rather, should have been better this week. After qualifying for pole position last night, I made a mistake in the first race today and finished second. In the next race, I got hit from behind at Turn-1 when one of the competitors (Danial Frost of Singapore) spun. There was some damage to the car and I managed to finish second. In the third race today, after we repaired the visual damage to the car, there was a lot of vibration in the left rear, but I managed to pull away to win.”
In the second day, two races were held. It was Jamie Chadwick’s day as she won both races of the final day. In the fourth race, she moved up a place from third to second before overtaking reverse-grid pole sitter Ptacek on the third lap. Thereafter, she gradually extended her lead to win by 2.5 seconds from Ptacek and Andreas Estner, who had started fifth on the grid. Ptacek and Andreas Estner finished took the second and third positions respectively. In the final race, Chadwick was behind Defourny on the grid. However, at turn 1, Chadwick overtook Defourny, built her lead steadily and went on to win the 10-lap race. Max Defourny finished second followed by Danial Frost.
A disappointed Defourny, knocked off the podium for the first time in the championship, said, “It was not a good race. We had potential to do better. But I got stuck behind someone (Michelangelo Amendola). It was dangerous stuff, moving heavily under braking. I nearly crashed into him on the straights a few times and I finally managed to overtake, but we lost so much time in that and damage to the tyres. I nearly got the fastest lap on the last lap, but good points for the championship. We still have vibrations on the car, but we don’t know the source of it. Otherwise, no issues with the car.”
The third and final round of the championship will be held at the MMRT in Chennai from February 8 to 10.
Here are the results:
Race-1: 1. Andreas Estner (Germany) (Best Lap 02:00.792); 2. Max Defourny (Belgium) (BL 02:00.452); 3. Danial Frost (Singapore) (BL 02:00.865).
Race-2: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (BL 02:00.974); 2, Max Defourny (Belgium) (BL 02:01.082); 3. Dylan Young (BL 02:01.734).
Race-3: 1. Max Defourny (Belgium) (BL 02:01.039); 2. Andreas Estner (Germany) (BL 02:01.499); 3. Patrik Pasma (Finland) (BL 02:01.873).
Race-4: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (Best Lap 02mins, 01.403secs); 2. Petr Ptacek (Czech Republic) (BL 02:01.552); 3. Andreas Estner (Germany) (BL 02:01.690).
Race-5: 1. Jamie Chadwick (UK) (BL 02:01.005); 2. Max Defourny (Belgium) (02:01.126); 3. Danial Frost (Singapore) (02:01.509).