MANAMA — Even a hazy Bahrain sky couldn’t block Dylan Pereira’s sights on the podium this weekend, as the young Luxembourg driver repeated his Race 1 form to take his second win. Pereira’s double win leaves the championship title undecided, and left to be resolved in a climatic final round taking place at the 2018 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Al-Saud completed a successful weekend of racing, finishing Race 2 in 12th place overall and winning the Bronze Category. His performance secured vital championship points ahead of the final round of Season 9.
Al-Saud started the race well and moved up to 10th place in turn one. The young Saudi driver set a good pace and showed some impressive defending skills for the next couple of laps. Al-Saud then locked his brakes, meaning that he dropped back to 12th place and gave himself more work to do for the remaining five laps. He crossed the line in 12th place, earning him first place in his category and topping off an overall strong performance in the penultimate round of the season.
Ahead of Al-Saud, no one could match Pereira’s pace as he pushed himself up to second from his fourth-place start by the first turn, before overtaking Charlie Frijns in lap two and pulling clear of the grid until the chequered flag. Frijns who started in pole, conceded his place to Pereira before Oliphant forced him to lock his brakes under pressure and sacrifice his tires. Oliphant ended the race in second with Frijns holding out for third.
With Pereira taking maximum points, championship leader Tom Oliphant’s hopes of glory now hang in the balance. As the British driver will not compete in Round 6, his dreams of lifting his first Porsche championship title have almost slipped away. Unless his closest rival Al-Faisal Al-Zubair of Oman performs poorly in the last two races of the season, Oliphant is likely to be pushed out of contention for the Season 9 title.
The British driver’s fate lies in the hands of Omani teenage sensation Al-Zubair, who was given a five-place grid position penalty for colliding with Oliphant in Race 1, which ultimately resulted in the British’s drivers DNF. Qualifying in fourth, Al-Zubair saw his penalty place him ninth on the grid and with a lot of work to do. Following a poor start due to congestion ahead of him into turn one, the Omani star climbed up the grid, position by position, over the 12 laps to finish in fifth.
Scottish newcomer Glynn Geddie had a strong weekend finishing just outside the podium in fourth, followed by Al-Zubair of Oman in fifth and South African Saul Hack in sixth.
Race 2 of Round 5 at Bahrain International Circuit saw 18 drivers race 12 laps of the Formula 1 track configuration. The series comes to a thrilling conclusion in Round 6 as an official support race for the 2018 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix, April 7-8, 2018. — SG
