Maloney romps to maiden Formula 2 win
Barbadian race car driver Zane Maloney landed his maiden Formula 2 win after he charged through the field from eighth on the grid in the sprint race of the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday.
The 20-year-old Rodin Motorsport driver made a fast start and quickly moved up to fourth by the end of the first lap and showed strong pace after dispatching rivals, Van Amersfoort driver Enzo Fittipaldi and Victor Art Grand Prix driver Martins of France.
Watched by family and friends, Maloney then overtook DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford of the United States on the eighth lap to grab the lead and never relinquished it throughout the 23-lap race around the Bahrain International Circuit.
Reverse grid pole-sitter Jake Crawford of the United States held onto a podium finish in second for DAMS Lucas Oil, and rookie driver and Red Bull Junior Josep María Marti of Spain took third for Campos Racing.
“Of course, I’m very happy to win the race, we started in P8 (position eight), got a great start and the team just gave me an amazing car, so it is all down to them, and we will go for it (on Saturday) in the feature race,”
Maloney said after the race. “It was an amazing race. Of course, it started with a great start and then a good first two laps. I always put my car in the right place, which was good. After that, to be honest, I was happy to settle in my position and try to save the tyres a bit.
“While saving the tyres, I was still keeping up so then I decided to just go for it, get in the lead and think about the tyres after that which I did. It worked out very well. The team gave me a great car so that is the reason.” The win for Maloney, and his fastest lap time of one minute, 46.585 seconds earned Rodin
Motorsport 11 points, and they will be looking to add more in the first feature race of the season on Saturday, when he starts third on the grid.
“I mean that’s always the goal; I didn’t think I would win, but the plan was to try and win (on Saturday),” he said. “Every day is different so we just need to look at the data and see what we can still do better, try to improve.
“For sure starting third, I need to have a good start again and go into the race how I did (on Friday). The goal is to win (on Saturday) for sure.”